Page:History of the devil, ancient and modern (3).pdf/19

 ( 19 ) civil. Since the conqueſt over Eve in Paradiſe, by which death and the Devil, hand in hand, eſtabliſhed their firſt empire upon earth, the Devil never gained 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 De- vil, 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 after the idol: and the Biſhop of Rome ſent more fools 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 him- ſelf, 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, happened to ſee the follow 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 aſſum- ed the power of opening and shutting heaven's gates; and afterwards ſetting a price, or toll, upon the en- trance, as we do here at paſſing a turnpike; theſe fine things, I ſay, were ſucceſsfully managed for ſome years before this I am now ſpeaking of; and the Devil got a great deal of ground by it too; but now he triumphed openly, and having ſet up a murderer on the temporal throne, and a church emperor upon the eccleſiaſtic throne, and both of his own chooſ- ing, the Devil may be ſaid to begin his new kingdom from this epocha, and call it the reſtoration.