Muggle's Dissent

Just before 1666, a lot of Christians started to freak out about the Millenarian/apocalyptic symbolism of the year. A fair number of Christian sects formed up and started to make their preparations. I had heard of the Ranters and the Diggers, but I hadn't heard of the Muggltonians.


This is Lodowicke Muggleton.

He didn't found the religion, his cousin John Reeve did. But when John heard the voice of God, God told him that Lodowicke was definitely a man to be involved. John called himself and his cousin "The Two Witnesses". John saw himself not so much as starting a religion; more just telling-it-like-it-was re: the coming apocalypse etc.

They had some pretty interesting beliefs. Lots of apocalypse stuff, and some reasoned interpretations of scripture. The sort of thing you expect from deeply religious people who start thinking way too much about a faith they can never reject. I always think of Murderer by (the Mormon) band Low as a good contemporary example of this logic-within-faith thing.

They were also sort of lazy as preachers. One of their things was that they had the power to damn people who scoffed at their ideas, but that meant that they couldn't preach for ethical reasons, because if they did, everyone would laugh at them and then be eternally damned. Which would be super bad PR and also is one more heavy thing to deal with for someone who has recently spoken to God.

They also denied the need for church buildings, priests and even prayer. Before they got their own reading room, they used to meet in the back rooms of pubs, drink beer and sing songs.


I'd read that John Reeve was buried in the New Bethlehem Burial Grounds, underneath the Broadgate Crossrail development at Liverpool Street.


It's a heavily secure site, with the guards and fences you would expect from a development in the city.


Posted next to the site are court orders which ban from the site  'ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROTEST GROUP KNOWN AS OCCUPY LONDON OR OCUPY LONDON LSX AND ANY PERSON OCCUPYING OR INTENDING TO OCCUPY ANY PART THEREOF OF THE OPEN SPACES FORMING PART OF THE BROADGATE ESTATE LONDON'.

I thought that this folder held copies of the court order, but when I tried to take one away, I realised that it was one, long, heavy document.

Turns out Broadgate manage Paternoster square as well. Hence the anti-occupy sentiment.


The Muggletonians were part of the wider non-conformist movement - Christian sects that diverted from the Anglican tradition. Non-conformist is the more progressive way of referring to them: they used to be known as dissenters. Their beliefs were laughable, brave, stupid, clever and illegal, all at the same time. People thought they were worthy only of derision and suspicion at the time, but now we can trace the roots of progressive socialism and atheistic humanism back to various dissenting sects.


It turns out that the site of the Bethlehem Hospital, where John Reeve died, is next door to Liverpool Street station, but on the other side to the Brodgate development. The building is a hotel, with several bars, luxury meeting rooms, and its own masonic temple.


Maybe Occupy London should move in here?