“Gregory the Great” died A.D. 604, without attaining his object; but he has been highly extolled by the Romish church, by whom he has been canonised as a _saint_. He was a man of profound talents, and of equal priestcraft, as the venerable martyrologist, John Fox, says of this Pope, “Of the number of all the first bishops before him in the primitive time, he was the _basest_; of all them that came after him he was the _best_.” Sabinian succeeded to the popedom, A.D. 605; and Boniface, A.D. 607. This latter priest, formerly _nuncio_ of Gregory, by flattering the emperor, as his master had done, prevailed on Phocas to “revoke the decree of Constantinople in 588, entailing the title of _universal bishop_ on the bishop of Constantinople, and to transfer it to Boniface and his successors, declaring the bishop of Rome _the head of the universal church_!” Pope Boniface, therefore, on receiving this imperial edict, assembled a council in the church of St. Peter at Rome, consisting of _seventy-two_ bishops, and _thirty-four_ presbyters, and all the deacons and inferior clergy of the city, and issued a decree as absolute monarch of the church! His successors pursued his policy; “nor did their boundless ambition allow them or the world,” as Mr. Bower states, “to enjoy any rest, till they got themselves acknowleged for UNIVERSAL MONARCHS, as well as UNIVERSAL BISHOPS!” Throughout the seventh century, popery advanced, while the name of Christianity was dreaded, and by many abhorred, on account of the wicked lives of its professed ministers. It was dishonoured by various heresies and idolatries. Some of their leaders filled the eastern empire with carnage and assassinations, of which, indeed, the Catholics were scarcely less guilty; so that the vengeance of the Christians was regarded with the deepest horror. This shocking exhibition was observed with astonishment by reflecting Jews and pagans; when Mohammed, an Arab travelling merchant, a young man of singular talents, ambition, and enthusiasm, having witnessed these abominations, formed a design of a new system of religion, which should destroy the popular idolatries. Aided, and perhaps prompted by a learned Jew, and an apostate from Christianity, he succeeded. His system rejected the idolatry of the Arabs, and the worship of saints and relics by professed Christians, while it included the chief facts of patriarchal history in the Scriptures, mingled with many Arabian and Jewish fables. This he pretended was the pure religion taught by Moses, by the prophets, and by Jesus Christ. By this artful device, and as a military chief, he engaged multitudes of followers; and thus, by rapine and war, he soon obtained the sovereignty of Arabia and several adjoining countries. In this century, therefore, “the mystery of iniquity” prevailed, fulfilling the Divine prophecies regarding Antichrist in the west, as monarch in the church at Rome, but in the language of Scripture, a “BEAST;” and, in the