It was in _the night, while men slept_, while the earth was overspread with the darken night of ignorance, that _the enemy came, and sowed his tares_. From the Beginning of the Seventh Century to the time of the Reformation, Letters were utterly neglected; and in proportion to that neglect, Credulity and Superstition, the inseparable companions of Ignorance, prevailed among the Laity even of the highest ranks: the little knowlege that still remained (and very little did remain) was wholly confined to the Clergy, chiefly to the Monks, men most zealously attached to the interest of the Pope, as well knowing, that by promoting his interest, they promoted at the same time their own. It was in this period of time, in this long darkness of ignorance, credulity, and superstition, that the Pope and his Agents introduced maxims and notions concerning the Papal Prerogatives, very different from those which the world had entertained to that time. In the beginning of the Seventh Century, that is, in the year 606. Pope _Boniface_ III. a man of great address, having craftily insinuated himself into the favour of _Phocas_, obtained of that Traitor and Murderer[7], the famous Rescript settling the Supremacy on the See of _Rome_, in opposition to the claim of the Patriarch of _Constantinople_. As _Phocas_ bore an irreconcileable hatred to _Cyriacus_, who was then vested with the Patriarchal dignity, he was the more easily prevailed upon to decide the Controversy, which had already lasted a long time between the two Sees, in favour of the See of _Rome_. If this hatred in the Usurper was owing to the zeal of _Cyriacus_ in laying before him the enormity of his crime, and exhorting him to repentance, _Boniface_, nay and his predecessor St. _Gregory the Great_[8], knew better how to make their court to men in power, than to take the least notice of their sins, however public, or mention _Repentance_ in their hearing. Be that as it will, it is certain, that to this monster of wickedness the Church of _Rome_ owes her Supremacy. And it was this Grant from _Phocas_, that more than any thing else inspired the Bishops of _Rome_ with pride and presumption; which increasing as their power increased, they were carried by degrees to all the excesses an unbounded ambition can suggest, when free from all Curb of Conscience, Morality, and Religion.