Thomas Tomkinson (1631–1710) was an English Muggletonian writer born at Ilam, near Dovedale, in Staffordshire. His parents, Richard and Ann, farmed at Sladehouse and Thomas took over the business as a yeoman farmer even while his father was alive.Rev Dr Alexander Gordon of Belfast "Ancient and Modern Muggletonians" Liverpool: privately printed (1870) p. 38 His faith was initially PresbyterianThomas Tomkinson "Truth's Triumph" Covent Garden: W. Smith (1823) p. 258 but in 1661 he read a book by Laurence Clarkson (presumably The Lost Sheep Found) and became attracted to Muggletonianism. Earlier, in February 1652, he had had a revelatory experience similar to the one Lodowicke Muggleton reported in 1650 but without any experience of the direct voice of God which had come to John Reeve and which was the foundation experience of Muggletonianism. Since John Reeve died in 1658, these dates mean that Tomkinson was one of the first prominent Muggletonian personalities not to have known Reeve personally.
Life
Tomkinson visited London, where he met Lodowicke Muggleton on Mayday 1662. He returned to Staffordshire and married, Ann, shortly afterwards. He converted a sizeable number of family, friends and neighbours to the new faith, enough to make himself a nuisance to the parish authorities. He said he managed to keep the peace only "through a little money and friendship".Christopher Hill, Barry Reay and William Lamont "The World of the Muggletonians" London: Maurice Temple Smith (1983) p. 44 On 9 December 1664 he was blessed by Lodowicke Muggleton. In 1674 he found himself in serious trouble on account of his beliefs and, to evade arrest, contemplated emigrating to the New England Colonies. He was talked out of it by Muggleton.
Around 1680 he moved permanently to London. It is unclear how he made his living. Part of the time he followed Muggleton's trade of tailoring but he also had plans to wholesale cheese and butter in the capital. He still signed his writings, however, as from Sladehouse. On 10 July 1684, Thomas and Ann's daughter, Anne, was blessed by Lodowicke Muggleton.
Lodowicke Muggleton died in 1698 and Tomkinson is credited by Professor William M. Lamont as "the man who prevented the religion from imploding after Muggleton's death" which is what Muggleton himself thought would happen.William Lamont "Last Witnesses" Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing (2006) p. 113 He is thus crucial to how a small sect survived. Tomkinson was Muggleton's literary executor, preparing and editing Muggleton's autobiographical "Acts of the Witnesses" leaving out some of the more contested astronomical assertions. Tomkinson is quite open in his introduction as to the deletions he made.
Thomas Tomkinson died in London in 1710 and was succeeded as unofficial leader of the Muggletonians by Arden Bonell (? – 1746)
Ideas
Tomkinson's conversion experience had been a difficult one. "What a great deal of pain to please the unsatisfied fancy of one particular man," Muggleton had grumbled.Lamont "Last Witnesses" p. 21 Tomkinson had been attracted to Muggletonianism by the radical humanity of their God. Every Muggletonian agreed God was the man Christ Jesus; necessarily and sufficiently. One of Tomkinson's subsequent books was called None but Christ. But it mattered intensely to him that Christ had not known of his divinity while on Earth, else his humanity was inauthentic. John Reeve had inclined to think Christ had awareness, at least at some stage. But, "Mr Clarkson in his Wonder of Wonders said he did not know himself to be the only God."Lamont "Last Witnesses p. 64 referring to Laurence Clarkson Muggleton affected sagely indifference. For Tomkinson, Christ had lived, died and lain in a grave for three days entirely as a man. By what power, then, did this man ascend to heaven? There has to be an answer else the crucifixion is the final death of God: indeed, God's suicide. The standard Muggletonian reply is that during Christ's sojourn on Earth, the affairs of heaven were managed by Elijah (perhaps in partnership with Moses and Enoch). Elijah had temporary control of God's prerogative power, easily adequate to a resurrection and glorious return. Such a view seems to fit nicely with the transfiguration story. It also explains the crowd at the crucifixion crying out, "Behold, he calleth Elias."Gospel of St Mark 15:35) But the monotheism of the whole enterprise is dangerously compromised. On one hand, there is a God in the form of the man Christ Jesus. On the other hand, there is a man Elijah, directly translated to heaven without death, capable of exercising God's full prerogative power. Where remains the dividing line between creator and created?John Saddington, an earlier writer, prefers to emphasize a different argument; namely that although the body and soul of the man Jesus were both authentically dead there remained the divine quickening power to restore vitality. Does this come dangerously close to 'spirits without a body'? Perhaps neither explanation is wholly satisfactory.
Tomkinson's most original contribution to Muggletonian belief was to adapt the theory of 'the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman', which John Reeve had expounded in A Divine Looking-Glass, to produce a doctrine of predestination that avoided the perceived pessimism of Calvin's model. Muggletonians felt Calvin portrayed God as a kind of capricious tyrant because Calvinism allowed only for 'one seed' which rendered the whole of humanity abject. Tomkinson also toned down Muggleton's implacable hostility to reason, accepting that reason had its uses in everyday life but was no substitute for faith. The term 'sober reason' was coined to imply reason subordinated to faith.
Tomkinson's most lasting contribution may have been to stress that there was no dividing line between the ideas of Lodowicke Muggleton and those of John Reeve. This topic was a source of splits and dissent amongst Muggletonians, some believing that Muggleton, alone, had insisted that God took no immediate notice of everyday human activities.
Tomkinson is perhaps the first Muggletonian intellectual. At least, one of the first influenced by the wider history of ideas. His writings are profusely illustrated by references to classical authors, church fathers, and western philosophers. Muggleton himself was probably well-read but made a point of relying on a mix of scriptural quotation and plain common-sense, which he felt to be the key to avoiding the opposing traps of scriptural literalism and the imaginings of reason.
"A Practical Discourse upon the General Epistle by Jude" Tomkinson's most important work from the sect's perspective was "A Practical Discourse upon the General Epistle by Jude". This was probably the last book Tomkinson wrote and he did so at the request of William Hall, a Derbyshire Muggletonian.First printed 1757, reprinted at Deal for James May in 1822. Further reprinted by Kessinger, 2008 Although only a short work of 25 verses, the Epistle of Jude was of disproportionate significance to Muggletonians. Its darkly poetic language seemed to give scriptural support to important Muggletonian ideas.
The writer of Jude knows and esteems the Book of Enoch even though this work was lost in Tomkinson's day. The subsequent rediscovery in Western Europe of EnochThe Muggletonians did not produce their own edition of Enoch but they did reprint a glossary of names and difficult words from the book. Signification of the proper names occurring in the Book of Enoch from the Hebrew & Chaldee Rev. D. A. De Sola London: Isaac Frost (1852) did much to bolster the Muggletonian view that they were on the right track.Isaac Frost's Two systems of Astronomy (1846) was directly inspired by this Since Jude and Revelation are the two concluding books of the New Testament, they seemed to point ahead to a Third Commission and to a Muggletonian future. According to modern exegesis,For example, John Norman Davidson Kelly Commentary on the Epistles of Peter and Jude London: A&C Black (1969) verses 4, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16 and 21 of Jude draw upon the book of Enoch whilst verse 6 can be derived from nowhere else and verses 14 and 15 give an openly acknowledged quote from it. What was generally important about Enoch was that he was the seventh from Adam (considered an auspiciously holy number), that he walked with God, and that he was translated directly from life on earth to heaven. What is important in the specific context of Jude is that Enoch is sufficient prophet of the reprobates' doom because, unusually, Enoch claimed to be a prophet of future times, not of his own. He alone, it was said, knew the secrets of time, whereas the rest of us know nothing. Jude incorporates, at verse 12, the concept of the 'second death'. Jude propagates the notion that a pre-existent Christ can be seen at work in the Old Testament. Christ is more than simply foretold. One ancient rendering of Jude uses the term 'the God Christ' and elsewhere the expression 'our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ' is used.This is disputed, however. Apparently the Greek would be the same whether one or two entities were referenced This is exactly what Muggletonians wanted to read. Jude's expression in verse 4 about men "who were long ago marked out for condemnation" is highly compatible with the doctrine of the two seeds. What is important about Cain, in Jude's interpretation is not so much his slaying his brother, but that this is a specific instance of his being "a child of the Evil One."1 John 3: 12 which is congruent to Muggletonian belief.Canon J. N. D. Kelly Commentrary on the Epistles of Peter and Jude p. 267 Jude disparages those false prophets who rely upon visions to bolster their opinions. No view could be more Muggletonian than this. Jude defends the reputation of the angels against those who deride them as cohorts of a demiurge.Some of the Christian gnostics were of this view. Canon Kelly (p. 267) says that certain sects went so far as to see Cain, Esau and Korah as the justified ones, freedom fighters against a 'creator God' who is the bringer of evil, but for Muggletonians this is 'unclean reason' at work. Jude advances the role of the prophet as the proper channel to expound God's will to people who should not rely upon their own lights and fancies in these matters.
Tomkinson uses his own book to promote a doctrine of election. He attacks, on one hand, the possibility of universal grace and, on the other, the belief that one can be saved by one's own efforts. He argues that people who hold to these views end up presuming to judge God by human standards. Besides, he suspects that those driven to deny election are motivated by fears for their own status. Only faith saves. "The world's faith is grounded upon tradition." God gave faith only once in the age of innocence. "There is no new faith given but the old awakened.""A practical discourse upon the general epistle by Jude" Deal: James May (1822) p. 25
Those who die in faith do so with the assurance that, after the sleep of the grave, they will enjoy resurrection in both body and soul, in a new glorified condition. Those who lack this assurance, die in fear that their lot will be 'a second death'. We know this because Enoch taught it.
Using Jude's language, he likens the preachers of the established churches to wandering stars. They "shall always be learning but never come to the knowledge of the truth"."A practical discourse" p. 95