Page:History of the Devil, ancient and modern (2).pdf/20

 entitle the Devil to the honour of making the

contract, viz. That Phocas firſt murdered his maſ-

ter (the emperor) and his ſons, Boniface ſhould

countenance the treaſon, and declare him empe-

ror; and in return, Phocas ſhould acknowledge

the primacy of the church of Rome and declare

Bonitace univerſal biſhop. A bleſſed compact!

which at once let the Devil to the head of affairs

in the Chriſtian world, as well ſpiritual as tem

poral, eccleſiaſtic as civil Since the conqueſt

over Eve in paradiſe, by which death and the

Devil, hand in hand, eſtabliſhed a more important

point than he gained at this time.

Then he drew the Biſhop of Rome to ſet up

the ridiculous pageantry of the key; and while

he the Devil ſet open the gates of hell to them

all, put them upon locking up the gates of heaven,

and giving the Biſhop the key; a cheat which, as

groſs as it was, the Devil ſo gilded over, or ſo

blinded the age to receive it, that like Gideon's

ephod, all the Catholic world went a-whoring af-

ter the idol; and the Biſhop of Romae ſent more

idols to the Devil by it, than ever he pretended

to let into heaven, though he opened the door as

wide as his key was able to do

The ſtory of this key being given to the Biſhop

of Rome by St Peter who, by the way, never had

it himſelf, and of its being loſt by ſomebody or

other, (the Devil it ſeems did not tell them who,)

and it being found again by a Lombard ſoldier,

in the army of King Antharis; who, attempting

to cut it with his knife, was miraculouſly forced to

direct the wound to himſelf, and cut his own

throat; that King Antharis and his nobles, hap-

pened to ſee the fellow do it, and were converted

to Chriſtianity by it; and that the King ſent the

key, with another made like it, to Pope Pelagius,

then Biſhop of Rome, who thereupon aſſumed the