An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…

Here's good wages; who would not serve that Master who will pay him for his work in that desirable coin, Pleasure and Prosperity! They shall spend their days in prosperity, that is, they shall run out their days in prosperity, their days and their prosperity shall be like two parallel lines, one as long as the other.¹ The word which we translate to spend, signifies to finish, and that in a double respect; First, in a way of Consumption; Secondly, in a way of Perfection or Consummation. That which is consumed is finished, or ended. So the word is used (Psal. 90.7.) (Numb. 16.45.) The Lord saith to Moses, Go you up from this Congregation, that I may consume them in a moment; I will dispatch them and make an end of them presently. The Lord can soon rid his hand of sinners. And as it notes a consuming by sudden judgements, by diseases or age, so by longing or desire, (2 Sam. 23.15.) And David longed ('tis this word, he was even spent and consumed with a longing desire) and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. Now as that which is consumed or spent, so that which is perfected is finished. Thus, Moses having set down the particulars of the whole work of Creation sums all up in this word, (Gen. 2.1, 2.) Thus the heavens and the Earth were finished, and all the host of them; that is, God completed or brought that great work of Creation to its utmost perfection, he put (as we may speak) his last hand to it, there was nothing more to be added. Here in the text we a•e to take this word spend, not only as it often signifies, to spend in a way of Consumption, but also to spend in a way of ⟨p. 242⟩Perfection, they shall perfect, not barely wear out their days. A godly man hath not so much consumed as perfected the days of his life, when he is come to and hath ended the last day of his life. They shall spend their days ²