A Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes: Shewing That It Is Not Lawful for Any Power on Earth to Compel in Matters of Religion. the Autho

by John Milton

This is a facsimile reproduction of the original 1659 edition of John Milton's work.

Genres: Nonfiction

106 pages, Paperback

Published January 2, 2011

About the author

People best know John Milton, English scholar, for Paradise Lost , the epic poem of 1667 and an account of fall of humanity from grace.

Beelzebub, one fallen angel in Paradise Lost, of John Milton, lay in power next to Satan.

Belial, one fallen angel, rebelled against God in Paradise Lost of John Milton.


John Milton, polemicist, man of letters, served the civil Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote in blank verse at a time of religious flux and political upheaval.

Prose of John Milton reflects deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day. He wrote in Latin, Greek, and Italian and achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica (1644) in condemnation of censorship before publication among most influential and impassioned defenses of free speech and the press of history.

William Hayley in biography of 1796 called and generally regarded John Milton, the "greatest ... author," "as one of the preeminent writers in the ... language," though since his death, critical reception oscillated often on his republicanism in the centuries. Samuel Johnson praised, "with respect to design may claim the first place, and with respect to performance, the second, among the productions of the ... mind," though he, a Tory and recipient of royal patronage, described politics of Milton, an "acrimonious and surly republican."

Because of his republicanism, centuries of British partisanship subjected John Milton.

Reviews

[Forbes]

I have to say that Milton is very hard to argue with here. He is a raw, unadulterated Protestant, whose high view of the Christian conscience is alone worth perusing and meditating upon. Milton found himself raised during the Laudian oppression, and then later opposed the Presbyters who followed, and then grieved at how the Independents who had seized power around Cromwell maintained a state church. Milton fears persecution will return, and his fears are not groundless, as Cromwell's personal and tolerant view was not shared by either of his two Parliament's. Milton is very much like Roger Williams of Rhode Island here. Simple, and logical, and as I said, hard to argue with. If only the world was as simple as Milton's ideals!!

[Broheros]

(Read April 2025)
A nice middle ground in terms of enjoyability between Areopagitica and Tenure of Kings. I enjoyed and agreed with some of his arguements, but Milton likes to repeat the same few points over, and over, and over again. Looking forward to getting back into his poetry again!

(Updated to 4 stars after skimming it in prep for my essay exam- it’s just too important to give 3 stars. Milton’s Biblical arguments stand firm and while, like everything he writes, I don’t agree with everything, he still has such a solid foundation against such a prevalent issue!)

[Alan Johnson]

During the English revolutionary period (1640-60), three individuals who became close philosophical friends separately articulated principles of freedom of conscience and separation of church and state: Roger Williams, Sir Henry Vane the Younger, and John Milton. Williams had earlier founded the Town of Providence (which later evolved into the Colony and then State of Rhode Island) on the basis of these principles. Although religious liberty and separation of church and state took root in seventeenth-century Rhode Island and (eventually and partially) in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America, the forces of religious conformity and persecution remained strong in England, even under the somewhat moderate Cromwellian Protectorate. Milton wrote A Treatise of Civil Power about a year before the Restoration of King Charles II and the reestablished Church of England. His purpose was to resist the efforts by Presbyterians and others to establish a more theocratic state under Richard Cromwell, the son and successor of Oliver Cromwell (who died in 1658).

Milton, like John Locke later, did not approve of freedom of conscience for Roman Catholics or for others, including Protestants, who would use force against those of contrary beliefs. Moreover, Milton seemed to approve of governmental prohibition of what he deemed to be idolatry. As explained in my book The First American Founder: Roger Williams and Freedom of Conscience, Williams, in contrast to Milton and Locke, advocated liberty of conscience for people of all religions and even for people of no religion.

This EEBO reprint is an excellent facsimile reproduction (photocopy) of the original 1659 edition.

(Originally posted 12/13/2013; as revised 8/23/2015)

[Bread]

milton argues from a fundamentally protestant pov for the importance of one's individual conscience in interpreting scripture, & against the states involvement in religion. he is ofc responding to erastianism. although still eloquent, i found this to be a little more tedious stylistically. he argues primarily from biblical sources & his arguments are intended to apply only to different sects of protestanism, not to catholicism or idolatry (although they really could apply to them as well)