Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/9

Rh Illumine, what is low raise and support; That, to the highth of this great argument, I may assert eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.
 * Say first—for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,

Nor the deep tract of Hell—say first what cause Moved our grand parents, in that happy state, Favored of Heaven so highly, to fall off From their Creator, and transgress his will, For one restraint lords of the world besides; Who first seduced them to that foul revolt.— The infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile, Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived The mother of mankind, what time his pride Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted to have equalled the Most High, If he opposed; and with ambitious aim Against the throne and monarchy of God Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud, With vain attempt. Him the almighty Power Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky. With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition; there to dwell, In Adamantine chains and penal fire,