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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
