Feature May 2013

Isaac Frost's 'Two Systems of Astronomy'

Isaac Frost wrote a number of books featuring the Muggletonians including 'Two Systems of Astronomy' which contains 11 plates printed by George Baxter and which was published in 1846.

The book, and Baxter’s plates, compare the Newtonian System of the Universe with the System According to the Holy Scriptures as put forward by the Muggletonians.

Plate 2 - The Solar System according to Newton - printed by George Baxter

The Muggletonians were a small Protestant Christian movement.

John Reeve and Lodowick Muggleton were cousins, both tailors who lived in London in the mid 17th century. In 1651-2 John Reeve had visions where he was told by God that he was the last messenger and Lodowick Muggleton was his mouth making them the Two Last Witnesses as foretold in Revelation. When John Reeve died, Muggleton took over and thus the sect got their name.

They believed that "The sun, moon and stars are not much bigger than they appear to natural sight. The sun is about the bigness of a square chamber. Heaven is not more than six miles up. The firmament encloses the world as with a brazen wall, shutting in the angelical serpents 'that they may only pry into the secrets of all things within their orb'."

Plate 11 - The Solar System according to the Muggletonians - printed by George Baxter

The last Muggletonian, Philip Noakes, died in 1979.

Considering that Isaac Frost wrote a number of publications about the Muggletonians it is likely that he was himself a Muggletonian, or at least a sympathiser of the movement.