PARADISE REGAIN'D. BOOK I. I WHO ere while the happy garden fung, 5 II Thou Spi'rit who ledft this glorious eremite Into the defert, his victorious field, Against the fpiritual foe, and brought ft him thence By proof th' undoubted Son of God, inspire, As thou art wont, my prompted fong elfe mute, And bear through highth or depth of nature's bounds With profp'rous wing full fumm'd, to tell of deeds Above heroic, though in fecret done, 15 And unrecorded left through many an age, Worthy t' have not remain'd fo long unfung. Now had the great Proclamer, with a voice More awful than the found of trumpet, cry'd Repentance, and Heav'n's kingdom nigh at hand 20 To all baptiz'd: to his great baptifm flock'd With awe the regions round, and with them came From Nazareth the fon of Jofeph deem'd To the flood Jordan, came as then obfcure, Unmark'd, unknown; but him the Baptist soon 25 |