the Mosaic dispensation.

For the institu

tion of it is a proof of the divine origin of our religion; and the conduct of the Israelites, in regard to it, will convey solemn admonition to Britain at this day.

The original institution of the sabbatical year was given from Sinai in the following terms: "And the Lord spake unto "Moses in Mount Sinai, saying, speak "unto the children of Israel, and say unto "them, when ye come into the land which "I give you, then shall the LAND keep a "SABBATH unto the Lord. Six years thou "shalt sow thy field; but the seventh year "shall be a sabbath of rest unto the LAND, a "sabbath for the Lord. Thou shalt neither "sow thy seed, nor prune thy vineyard. "And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of

years unto thee, seven times seven years; " and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine

years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet "of the JUBILEE to sound; and ye shall

And

"hallow the fiftieth year. Ye shall not sow, "neither reap, for it is the Jubilee. "if ye shall say, what shall we eat the "seventh year; behold we shall not sow nor gather in our increase? Then I will "command my blessing upon you in the

sixth year; and it shall bring forth fruit "for three years. And ye shall sow the

eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit

" until the ninth year; until her fruits "come in, ye shall eat of the old store."*

Now we may ask, what lawgiver, in any age or country, possessing merely human authority, would have ventured to promulgate such an ordinance as this to any people? What lawgiver would even have thought of obtaining a present fame, by

* Lev. xxv. 1.

pretending that such an ordinance was from God? For, on human principles, it was at once impolitic and unnatural. Moses commanded the Israelites to abstain from agricultural labours, and wait a spontaneous harvest of nature. He assured them, that the polity which he was then ordaining would be sanctioned by the divine interposition, at regular intervals, in the revolution of time. He not only foretold an event which was yet in the womb of futurity, but an event which was contrary to experience; and which, if it took place, could not be doubtful or uncertain, but would be public and universal, arresting the minds, and subjected to the senses of all Israel.

Every sixth year shall bring forth fruit for three years." And this was to continue as long as the Israelites should obey the statutes of God, and hallow the seventh year: and no longer. And for this miraculous fertility of the earth, the Jewish legis

lator pledged himself; he pledged the credit of his whole code of laws for ages and generations to come. And, had his assertion proved false, a people so prone to rebel as the Israelites, would never have submitted to the loss of a year's produce of the land, by withholding their seed. That they did withhold their seed, and that they did hallow the seventh year, is as certain as that they ever existed in Canaan. The argument then, for the divine legation of the lawgiver, is conclusive.*

The next subject that claims our attention, is to inquire why it was ordained that

* Had the prediction of Moses, concerning the increase of the sixth year, proved false, his code of laws would have been regarded with the same contempt by the succeeding generations of Israel, with which we regard the impostures of Mahomet; and we should have heard no more of a theocracy continuing after his death, exhibited in a regular chronological series of events, which are as well confirmed as those of the early Roman or English history. Still less should we have heard of a reverence for the name of Moses, (as their true prophet) by his own nation, throughout every successive age down to this day.

the seventh year should be hallowed, and not any other year? It appears to have been for the same reason that the divine wisdom had before hallowed the seventh DAY. The seventh YEAR was, in like manner, to be holy to the Israelites. It was to be devoted, in a particular manner, to religious instruction and mental improvement. "In the solemnity of the year of RELEASE, " when all Israel is come to appear before "the Lord, thou shalt read the law before "all Israel in their hearing."*

Thus we see, that, as every seventh day was set apart from the beginning of time, for the sacred recognition of the divine name and mercy, in which both man and beast were to rest from their labour; so, in Israel, every seventh year was appointed a sabbath to the land; even to the

* Deut. xxxi, 10.

!