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 removed in August 1617. His mother, Mary Muggleton, died in June 1612, aged thirty-five, when his father married again, and sent Lodowicke to be brought up 'with strangers in the country.' In 1624 Lodowicke was apprenticed to John Quick, a tailor in Walnut Tree Yard, who did a good business in livery gowns. In 1625 he had a touch of the plague which raged in that year, but soon recovered, and never had ' half a day's sickness since,' or spent 'sixpence in physic' in his life. In 1630 he was working under Richardson, a clothier and pawnbroker in Houndsditch, and became engaged to his daughter ; her mother made the match, and promised 1001. to set them up in business. But in 1631 he went as journeyman to his cousin, William Reeve, in St. Thomas Apostle's ; and Reeve, a strong puritan, convinced him of the unlawfulness of pawnbroking ; his religious scruples proved fatal to his marriage prospects. He became a zealous puritan, and so remained until puritanism began to remodel the conditions of church life. Refusing to join either the 'new discipline' of presbyterianism, or the 'close fellowships' of independency, he withdrew about 1647 from all worship, fell back on 'an honest and just natural life,' and adopted an agnostic position in regard to all theology.

In 1650, by which time he had been twice a widower, he was attracted by the declarations of two 'prophets,' John Robins [q. v.], a ranter, and Thomas Tany [q. v.], a predecessor of the Anglo-israelites. Their crude pantheism took some hold of him, and he read the current English translations of Jacob Boehme. From April 1651 to January 1652 he had inward revelations, opening to him the scriptures. His cousin John Reeve (1608-1658) [q. v.], caught the infection from him. At length Reeve announced that on 3, 4, and 5 Feb. 1652 he had received personal communications ' by voice of words ' from Jesus Christ, the only God, appointing Reeve the messenger of a new dispensation, and Muggleton as his 'mouth.' The two now came forward as prophets ; they identified themselves with the ' two witnesses ' (Rev. xi. 3), they were to declare a new system of faith, and had authority to pronounce on the eternal fate of individuals.

Reeve, a sensitive man in ailing health, who only survived his ' commission ' six years, contributed to the movement its element of spirituality. He distinguished between faith and reason, as respectively the divine and demoniac elements in man. A frank anthropomorphism as regards the divine being, which they shared with the contemporary English Socinians, is common to both ; so is the doctrine of the mortality of the soul, to be remedied by a physical resurrection ; but the harder outlines of the system, including the rejection of prayer, belong to Muggleton. His philosophy is epicurean ; having fixed the machinery of the world, and provided man with a conscience, the divine being takes, ordinarily, no notice of human affairs ; the last occasion of his interference, prior to the general judgment, being his message to Reeve. In the resulting system there is a singular mixture of rationalism and literalism. The devil is a human being, witchcraft a delusion, narratives of miracle are mostly parables. On the other hand, astronomy is confuted by scripture, the sun travels round the earth, and heaven, on Reeve's calculation, is six miles off. This, however, is a pious opinion. A modest hold of the ' six principles ' (formulated 1656) is enough for salvation [see ].

The ' two witnesses ' made some converts of position, and printed what is known as their ' commission book,' the 'Transcendent Spirituall Treatise,' 1652. On 15 Sept. 1653 they were brought up on a warrant charging them with blasphemy in denying the Trinity, were detained in Newgate fora month, tried before the lord mayor, John Fowke [q. v.], on 17 Oct. and committed to the Old Bridewell for six months. They gained their liberty in April 1654, and pursued their mission, but Reeve's death in July 1658 left the movement entirely in Muggleton's hands.

The first to dispute his supremacy was Laurence Claxton or Clarkson [q. v.l, who joined the movement about the time of Reeve's death, and aspired to become his successor. After endeavouring for a year to lead a revolt, he became Muggleton's submissive follower in 1661. Ten years later, when Muggleton was in hiding, a rebellion against his authority was led by William Medgate, a scrivener, Thomas Burton, a flaxman, Witall, a brewer, and a Scotsman named Walter Buchanan. They extracted from Muggleton's writings 'nine assertions,' which they alleged to be opposed alike to common sense and the views of Reeve. In a characteristic letter Muggleton defended the 'assertions' with vehemence, and ordered the exclusion of the ringleaders. He was at once obeyed ; his faithful henchman, John Saddington [q. v.],put matters right, and only Burton was allowed to return to the fold. No other schism occurred during his lifetime.

His chief controversies were with the quakers, for whom Muggleton (differing here from Reeve) had nothing but contempt. Their ' bodiless God ' was the antithesis of