Throughout his life Milton, tho profoundly religious, held aloof
from the strife of sects. In belief, he belonged to the extreme
Puritans, called Separatists, Independents, Congregationalists,
of which our Pilgrim Fathers are the great examples; but he
refused to be bound by any creed or Church discipline:
“As ever in my great Task-Master’s eye.”
In this last line of one of his sonnets is found Milton’s
rejection of every form of outward religious authority in face
of the supreme Puritan principle, the liberty of the individual
soul before God.--WILLIAM J. LONG, “English Literature.”
(1782)
=Liberty, Promoting=--See EMANCIPATION.