And pursuant to this Promise, it is miraculously obfervable in their Hiftories, that they were never invaded, in any of these Times, while they Perform'd this Command.

II. Take another Instance. Every Seventh Year was to be a Sabbath; they were neither to Plow nor Sow, neither Levit. xxv. Reap that which Groweth of it felf. 5, II., And the Objection is put, v. 20. And if ye shall fay, What hall we Eat the Seventh Tear? Behold we shall not fow, nor gather in our Increase. And the Answer is given in the next Verses; Then I will Command my Blessing upon you in the Sixth Year, and it shall bring forth Fruit for Three Years; and ye fhall fow 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.

And to this they were to Trust their very Lives, they were to Starve if it fail'd,

But if they shou'd Truft entirely to thefe Promises of God, then God affures them of His Bleffing for it, (v. 18, and 19.) both to Protect their Land from their Enemies, and to

Feed

Feed them to the full in it: Wherefore
Je shall do my Statutes, and keep my
Fudgments, and do them; and ye shall
Dwell in the Land in Safety: And the
Land fhall yield her Fruit, and ye shall
Eat your fill, and Dwell therein in
Safety.

But, on the other hand, if they wou'd not Truft abfolutely to God, then God threatens them that the Second Caufes fhall not help. them, wherein they Trufted; But that He can Command all the Courses of Nature, and to their Punishment, if they Difobey, as well as to their Benefit, if they Trust in God.

If they fhou'd Refufe or Neglect to keep the Sabbatical Year, then God threatens them that He wou'd Banish them out of the Land, and that the Land fhou'd enjoy her Sabbaths, that is, Rest from being Plow'd or Sow'd, when they were out of it, fince they Durft not Trust fo far in God, as to let her have that Rest He commanded, while they were in it. Thus God Levit.xxvj. fpake to them; Then fhall the Land 34, 35. Enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth Defolate, and ye be in your Enemy's

Land;

Land, even then fhall the Land Reft, and Enjoy her Sabbaths: As long as it lieth Defolate, it fhall Reft; because it did not Reft in your Sabbaths, when ye Dwelt upon it. And again, Ver. 43: The Land alfo fhall be left of them, and fhall Enjoy her Sabbaths, while the liet h Defolate without them: And they shall accept of the Punishment of their Iniquity becanfe, even because they DeSpis'd my Judgments, and because their Soul abhorred my Statutes.

Now it is very obfervable how Exactly this Threatning (or Prophecy). was fulfill'd upon the Jews.

They had Neglected to Obferve the Sabbatical Tear; for 490 Years, in which time ther are 70 Sabbatical or Seventh Years; and the Captivity in Babylon was, by God, Determin'd to that Exact Number of 70 Years, on Purpose to fulfil this His Threatning, as it is written, To fulfil the Word of 2 Chron. the Lord, by the Month of Jeremiah, xxxvj. 21. (by whom God had after Threaten'd the fame) until the Land had Enjoy'd her Sabbaths for as long as fhe lay Defolate, fhe kept Sabbath, to fulfil Threefcore and Ten Years. III. An

III. Another Great Inftance of their Dependence upon God, was, their Years of Jubile and Releafe.

(1.) In the Year of Jubile, which was every 50th Year, all Sales of Lands were Determin'd, and the Land Reverted to the Seller. And the ReaLevit. xxv. fon is given, The Land shall not be fold for ever: For the Land is Mine, (fays God,) for ye are Strangers and Sojourners with Me.

23.

Deut. xv. 13, Ge.

We are but Tenants at Will, and are to look upon Nothing, in this World, as our Inheritance: God only is the Proprietor, and hath given us but an Ufufructuary Tenure, to Live upon His Land, but not to think it

our own.

(2.) But the Year of Releafe was yet a Greater Trial of their Dependence upon God. This was every Seventh Year: And in this Year all Perfonal Debts were Discharg'd; and all the Hebrew Bond-Men were fet at Liberty. Not only fet at Liberty, but, it is Commanded, And when thou fendeft him out Free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away Empty: Thou shalt furnish him Liberally out of thy Flock,

and

and out of thy Floor, and out of thy Wine-Prefs: Of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath Bleffed thee, thou fhalt give unto him--- And, It shall not feem hard unto thee, when thou fendest him away Free from thee, for the Lord thy God fhall Bless thee in all that thou doeft.

The like Reason is given for the Release of Debts; which is Requir'd, Ver. 1, and 2. At the end of every Seven Years thou shalt make a Releafe: And this is the manner of the Releafe; Every Creditor that Lendeth ought unto his Neighbour, shall Release it, he shall not Exact it of his Neighbour, or of his Brother, because it is called the Lord's Releafe. Now from Reading of this Law, the Thought Naturally arises, That it would be ill Borrowing of Money the Sixth Year. But that is obviated, Ver. 9, &c. where it is again Commanded in these Words: Beware that ther be not a Thought in thy wicked Heart, faying, The Seventh Year, the Year of Release, is at hand; and thine Eye be Evil against thy Poor Brother, and thou givest him Nought, and he Cry unto the Lord against thee, and