"THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN LONG DEAD."
"For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead." Ps. cxliii, 3. "He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old." Lam. iii, 6. These statements are worthy of more than a mere passing notice. "Those that have been long dead," or "dead of old," have certainly reached the condition of happiness or misery which the dead inherit while they remain under the power of death. And what do these sacred writers say of them? That some are in the presence of God in Heaven in the light of his countenance; and that others are in hell fire? They say nothing of this kind. They speak of the dead, irrespective of moral character, that they "dwell in darkness," and that they are "in dark places." Such was the view of David and of Jeremiah; or, rather, such is the testimony which the Spirit of God inspired them to bear. And David's case furnishes a good illustration of the truth which he has thus declared. When he had "been long dead," even one thousand years after his decease, the apostles, Peter and Paul, speak thus of him. 1. Peter's testimony concerning David. Acts ii, 29, 34: "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. . . . For David is not ascended into the Heavens; but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand." Was not one thousand years long time enough to reach Heaven if he could arrive there while dead? 2. Paul's testimony concerning David. Acts xiii, 36: "For David, after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption." So Paul adds to Peter's testimony that David had not ascended to Heaven, the further statement that he is now asleep. David knew that he should thus sleep, but he looked beyond that sleep to the moment of waking. Thus he says, Ps. xvii, 15, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." It is a precious thought that the moment of this awakening is now at hand. To the sleepers, the state of death will be only a blank, an imperceptible atom of time. When they awake in glorious immortality they shall behold the Son of God and be like him; and thenceforward ever be with him.