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works, the most meritorious; and that to which is reserved the greatest reward in the world to come. God might himself have defended his church, or raised up others to defend the just rights of his apostle St. Peter. But it pleased him to choose you, my most excellent son, out of the whole human race, for that holy purpose. For it was in compliance with his divine inspiration and command, that I applied to you, that I came into your kingdom, that I exhorted you to espouse the cause of his beloved apostle, and your great protector, St. Peter. espoused his cause accordingly; and your zeal for his honour was quickly rewarded with a signal and miraculous victory. But St. Peter, my most excellent son, has not yet reaped the least advantage from so glorious a victory, though owing entirely to him. The perfidious and wicked Aistulphus, (the king of the Lombards,) has not yet yielded to him one foot of ground; nay, unmindful of his oath, and actuated by the devil, he has begun hostilities anew, and, bidding defiance both to you and St. Peter, threatens us, and the whole Roman people, with death and destruction." The pope, however, doubtful of the effect of his own eloquence upon the mind of the French monarch, is said to have procured a letter from the apostle Peter himself, which he sent to Pepin as a genuine epistle from his great predecessor, the prince of the apostles. The following is an extract, from which, I am afraid, my readers will infer, that Peter did not improve in the art of letter-writing after he left this world:-"Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to the three most excellent kings, Pepin, Charles, and Carloman; (the two last were Pepin's sons,) to all the holy bishops, abbots, presbyters, and monks; to all the dukes, counts, commanders of the French army; and to the whole people of France: Grace unto you and peace be multiplied."-" I am the apostle Peter, to whom it was said, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock, &c. Feed my sheep, &c. And to thee will I give the keys, &c. As this was all said to me in particular, all who hearken to me, and obey my exhortations, may persuade themselves, and firmly believe that their sins are forgiven them." "Hearken, therefore, to me, to me Peter, the apostle and servant of Jesus Christ; and since I have preferred you to all the nations of the earth, hasten, I beseech and conjure you, if you care to be cleansed from your sins, and to earn an eternal reward, hasten to the relief of my city, of my church, of the people committed to my care, ready to fall into the hands of the wicked Lombards, their merciless enemies. It has pleased the Almighty that my body should rest in this city; the body that has suffered, for the sake of Christ, such exquisite torments: And can you, my most Christian sons, stand by unconcerned, and see it insulted by the most wicked of nations? No, let it never be said, and it will, I hope, never be said, that I, the apostle of Jesus Christ, that my apostolic church, the foundation of the faith, that my flock, recommended to you by me and my vicar, have trusted in you, but trusted in vain. Our lady, the Virgin Mary, the mother of God, joins in earnestly entreating, nay, and commands you to hasten, to run, to fly to the relief of my favourite people, reduced almost to the last gasp; and calling, in that extremity, night and day, upon her, and upon me. The thrones and dominions, the principalities, and the powers, and the whole multitude of the heavenly host, entreat you, together with us, not to delay, but to come with all possible speed, and rescue my chosen

flock from the jaws of the ravening wolves, ready to devour them. My vicar might, in this extremity, have recurred, and not in vain, to other nations; but, with me, the French are, and ever have been, the first, the best, the most deserving of all nations; and I would not suffer the reward, the exceeding great reward, that is reserved in this and the other world, for those who shall deliver my people, to be earned by any other." Bower's Life of Stephen II.

It is difficult to say what effect the eloquence of the holy apostle might have had upon the mind of Pepin and his two sons, had it arrived in time; for as no swift angelic messenger was employed, Pepin had left France with an army, to help the pope, before Peter's letter reached him. He effectually subdued the king of the Lombards. He took the provinces and cities, which Aistulphus had taken from the emperor, and most magnanimously gave them to the pope, thus enriching the holy see with what was not his own.

Thus was the bishop of Rome raised to the rank and sovereignty of a great prince. This is usually considered the last step of his elevation. It took place in the year 756; and this, I believe, is the latest period to which the commencement of the prophetic number of 1260 years is referred. Supposing the book of Revelation to have been written in the year 90, which is the period usually assigned to it, the time which elapsed between that and the last stage of papal usurpation, is precisely six hundred and sixty-six years, which reminds us of the number of the name of the beast, Rev. xiii. 18. I mention this merely in passing, as it is by no means my intention to enter, at present, upon the Apocalyptical signs of antichrist. To those who wish to see this subject discussed, in a serious and sensible manner, I beg leave to recommend a pamphlet, just published, by the Rev. Mr. Mason, of Wishatown, on Daniel's Prophetic Number of 2300 days.