It must be confess’d these were devilish Politicks; and so sure was the Aim, and so certain was the Devil to hit his Mark by them, that we find he not only did not fail then, but the same hellish Methods have prevail’d still, and will do so to the End of the World. Nor had the Devil ever a better Game to play than this, for the Ruin of Religion, as we shall have room to show in many Examples, besides that of the Dissenters in England, who are evidently weaken’d by the late Toleration: Whether the Devil had any hand in baiting his Hook with an A— of Parliament or no, History is silent, but ’tis too evident he has catch’d the Fish by it; and if the honest Church of England does not in Pity and Christian Charity to the Dissenters, straighten her Hand a little, I cannot but fear the Devil will gain his Point, and the Dissenter will be undone by it.
Upon this new foot of Politicks the Devil began with the Emperors themselves: Arius, the Father of the Hereticks of that Age, having broach’d his Opinions, and Athanasius the orthodox Bishop of the East opposing him, the Devil no sooner saw the Door open to Strife and Imposition, but he thrust himself in, and raising the Quarrel up to a suited Degree of Rage and Spleen, he involv’d the good Emperor himself in it first and Athanasius was banish’d and recall’d, and banish’d and recall’d again, several times, as Error ran high, and as the Devil either got or lost Ground: After Constantine, the next Emperor was a Child of his own, (Arian) and then the Court came all into the Quarrel, as Courts often do, and then the Arians and the Orthodox persecuted one another as furiously as the Pagans persecuted them all before. To such a Height the Devil brought his Conquest in the very Infancy of the Question, and so much did he prevail over the true Christianity of the Primitive Church, even before they had enjoy’d the Liberty of the pure Worship twenty Years.
Flush’d with this Success, the Devil made one Push for the restoring Paganism, and bringing on the old Worship of the Heathen Idols and Temples; but like our King James II. he drove too hard, and Julian had so provok’d the whole Roman Empire, which was generally at that time become Christian, that had the Apostate liv’d, he would not have been able to have held the Throne; and as he was cut off in his Beginning, Paganism expir’d with him, and the Devil himself might have cry’d out, as Julian did, and with much more Propriety, Vicisti Galileane.
Jovian, the next Emperor, being a glorious Christian, and a very good and great Man, the Devil abdicated for a while, and left the Christian Armies to re-establish the Orthodox Faith; nor could he bring the Christians to a Breach again among themselves a great while after.
However, Time and a diligent Devil did the Work at last, and when the Emperors concerning themselves one way or other, did not appear sufficient to answer his End, he chang’d Hands again, and went to work with the Clergy: To set the Doctors effectually together by the Ears, he threw in the new Notion of Primacy among them, for a Bone of Contention; the Bait took, the Priests swallow’d it eagerly down, and the Devil, a cunninger Fisherman than ever St. Peter was, struck them (as the Anglers call it) with a quick Hand, and hung them fast upon the Hook.
Having them thus in his Clutches, and they being now, as we may say, his own, they took their Measures afterwards from him, and most obediently follow’d his Directions; nay, I will not say but he may have had pretty much the Management of the whole Society ever since, of what Profession or Party soever they may have been, with Exception only to the Reverend and Right Reverend among our selves.
The Sacred, as above, being thus hook’d in, and the Devil being at the Head of their Affairs, Matters went on most gloriously his own way; first, the Bishops fell to bandying and Party-making for the Superiority, as heartily as ever Temporal Tyrants did for Dominion, and took as black and devilish Methods to carry it on, as the worst of those Tyrants ever had done before them.
At last Satan declar’d for the Roman Pontiff, and that upon excellent Conditions, in the Reign of the Emperor Mauritius; for Boniface, who had long contended for the Title of Supreme, fell into a Treaty with Phocas, Captain of the Emperor’s Guards; whether the Bargain was from Hell or not, let any one judge, the Conditions absolutely entitle the Devil to the Honour of making the Contract, viz. That Phocas first murthering his Master (the Emperor) and his Sons, Boniface should countenance the Treason, and declare him Emperor; and in Return, Phocas should acknowledge the Primacy of the Church of Rome, and declare Boniface universal Bishop. A blessed Compact! which at once set the Devil at the Head of Affairs in the Christian World, as well Spiritual as Temporal, Ecclesiastick and Civil. Since the Conquest over Eve in Paradise, by which Death and the Devil, Hand in Hand, establish’d their first Empire upon Earth, the Devil never gain’d a more important Point than he gain’d at this time.
He had indeed prospered in his Affairs tolerably well for some time before this, and his Interest among the Clergy had got Ground for some Ages; but that was indeed a secret Management, was carried on privately, and with Difficulty; as in sowing Discord and Faction among the People, perplexing the Councils of their Princes, and secretly wheedling in with the dignified Clergy.
Also he had raised abundance of little Church-Rebellions, by setting up Hereticks of several Kinds, and raising them Favourers among the Clergy, such as Ebion, Cerinthius, Pelagius, and others.