INVOCATION TO PARADISE LOST.

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing heav'nly muse! that on the sacred top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, did'st inspire That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed, In the beginning, how the heav'ns and earth Rose out of chaos: or, if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Silo's book that flow'd. Fast by the oracle of God; I thence Invoke thy aid to my advent'rous song, That, with no middle flight, intends to soar Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme And chiefly thou, O Spirit! that dost prefer Before all temples, th' upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou, from the first, Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like sat'st brooding o'er the vast abyss, And mad'st it pregnant; what in me is dark, Illumine: what is low, raise and support; That, to the height of this great argument, I may assert eternal providence, And justify the ways of God to men.