“Our Expiring Libertie” 1658–1660The only external mark of true religion is the acceptance of scripture as the rule of
faith, so any conscientious belief or practice based on such reading – that is, any
Protestant religion, even Socinianism – must be true religion and not heresy.
From that radical redefinition Milton develops the four basic arguments of his
tract with evidence from scripture alone. The tone, the positions taken, and the
plethora of scripture texts indicate this tract’s affinity with De Doctrina Christiana,
which Milton has been working on as opportunity allowed. He argues first that the
magistrate is not able to judge in matters of religion, since he cannot know whom
the Spirit illumines: if he then assumes “infallibility over both the conscience and
the scripture” he becomes as much Antichrist as the Roman pope. Second, he has
no right to judge or act in religious matters, since Christ has reserved these to his
own jurisdiction, which works by inward persuasion and if necessary by church
discipline or excommunication, but never by corporal punishment or monetary
fines: religion under the gospel is “our free, elective and rational worship” (260).
Third, the use of force in religion violates Christian liberty, which sets the believer
free from ceremonies and “the forcible imposition of those circumstances, place
and time in the worship of God”: a basic proof text is Galatians 5:13–14, “you are
calld to libertie... stand fast therfore in the libertie wherwith Christ hath made us
free” (262–4). Fourth, force can do no good, promoting neither the glory of God
nor true piety but only implicit faith, conformity, and hypocrisy.
Milton also redefines heresy in terms that render it entirely innocuous, confining
it to its original Greek meaning: “the choice or following of any opinion good or
bad in religion or any other learning” (247). Accordingly, no Protestant can be a
heretic, however far his opinion departs from an orthodox consensus, and he ought
to be allowed – as Areopagitica had argued – the free expression and publication of
his beliefs:
If by the Protestant doctrine we beleeve the scripture not for the churches saying, but
for its own as the word of God, then ought we to beleeve what in our conscience we
apprehend the scripture to say, though the visible church with all her doctors gainsay;
and being taught to beleeve them only for the scripture, they who do so are not
heretics, but the best protestants.... [N]othing can with more conscience, more
equitie, nothing more protestantly can be permitted then a free and lawful debate at
all times by writing, conference or disputation of what opinion soever, disputable by
scripture. (248–9)The only heretic is the Roman Catholic, since he maintains some traditions and
beliefs not drawn from scripture, and accepts the authority of the pope as well as
scripture and the Spirit, but under the gospel heretics “are punishd by excommuni-
cation only” (249). From all this, Milton draws precisely the opposite meaning
from the Presbyterian and centrist Independent description of the Christian magis-
trate’s role as defender of true religion: it can only mean defending every Chris-