本文探討十七世紀英國詩人彌爾頓的政治思想。他曾是共和革命的要角，且有多篇文章宣揚自由與激進之民權思想。然而在《失樂園》中，彌爾頓之詩句－心專注的主題卻是一元論宇由存有下的絕對秩序──即是「王治」及內應有之順從關係。這樣讓我們不禁迷惑：彌爾頓到底是激進的民主派、懷古的共和派還是主張君主制的人？在他的著作中，這三種意象似都曾浮現，那我們究竟要如格判讀其政治思想？他究竟是同時擁有多種面貌，還是一路歷經不同主張之轉折？欲解決此通，有的假設是：《失樂園》是關鍵的作品，它代表了彌爾頓對生命、自由、人生意義以及上帝的認識；透過《失樂園》，彌爾頓說出了他對現世的批判與期待。

　　　　　John Milton has been a puzzle for many students of the 17th century English politics or political thought: was he a radical like the Levellers, as Christopher Hill has indicated? Or was he a republican like Algernon Sydney, Andrew Marvell and James Harrington? Or maybe he was in fact a proponent of monarchy as long as it's not a tyranny? Most conducive to this perplexities has been the controversial epic poem Paradise Lost-written during the last years of Milton's life-in which the poet embraces the universal monarchy of God while berating those selfish revolutionaries who corrupted the republican enterprise and therefore brought about the Stuart restoration in 1660. This passage intends to investigate into the moral, theological and political languages embedded in the poetics of Paradise Lost, in the hope that a penetrating clue can be revealed as to how the concept of Christian liberty can be linked to secular politics and, also, used as a criterion of assess the achievements of public life. One of the tantalizing results from the political reading of the epic poem is that it helps to reveal, among other things, the ingenuity of Milton in fusing the pagan political tradition of republicanism with Christianity under the English millenarianism. Moreover, by so doing, the poet is in fact redefining the political through his edifying lyrics dedicated to the Christian theme of redemption which-not to anyone's surprise-can properly be conterminous with the secular phenomenon of the restoration of the political order.