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"JESUS CHRIST, ETERNALLY ALIVE."
I know that "my Redeemer liveth. — Job 19: 35, ¦

A.
SERMON BY
CALEB D. BRADLEE,
SENIOR PASTOR OF THE CHURCH AT HARRISON SQUARE,
BOSTON, MASS.,
v PBEACHED
APRIL 1, 1888,
EASTER SUNDAY.

From

BOSTON:
Eustis Towle, Printer, 5 East Dedham Street.
18SS,

rom CALEB D. BRADLEE,
57. West Brookline Street,
Boston.

JESUS CHRIST, ETERNALLY ALIVE."
I know that my Redeemer liveth. — Job 19: 25.

A.

SERMON

CALEB D. BRADLEE,
I*'
SENIOR PASTOR OF THE CHURCH AT HARRISON SQUARE,
BOSTON, MASS.,
PREACHED

APRIL 1, 18

EASTER SUNDAY.

BOSTON
Eustis Towle, Printer, 5 East Dedham Street.

From CALEB D. BRADLEE,
57 West Brookline Street,
Boston.

SERMON

JOB ip: 25.
'•' I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVETH."
It is not necessary at this time to enter into that never
ending discussion as to exactly what the good man Job
meant, when he uttered these words ; nor need we go even
back of the statement, and inquire, as some needlessly do,
whether there ever was such a person as Job, or whether
his name is simply used as a symbol to represent people of
that day, and people of all days, in a similar position of
doubt, care, pain, trouble, and death ; nor need we ask
whether the words attributed to Job, are the correct trans
lation of words that Job used; since the purpose of all
sincere seekers for truth always should be, not an im
peachment of the phrase ; not a criticism of the author ;
not a long, hazy, and troubled look into the past; but a
desire to rind out what these words, as given to us, really
teach us to-day when furnished with a Christian interpre-

tation ; what they mean now ; what power they convey ;
what glory they inspire ; what comfort they afford ; what
prophecies they unfold ; notv, this day, this hour, this very
minute, to us, and to all.
"I know that my Redeemer liveth." I like the fosi-
tiveness of the statement " / know ;" not I suppose, nor I
have been told, nor it is written, nor a great, mournful,
stinging, and icy "ferhafs," but a confident, eloquent,
glorious, and uplifting knowledge. We know that our
Redeemer lives, but how do we know ? A great many
people say, it is only one grand guessing, one asked for
possibility, a splendid dream, something that may be, but
just as well, something that may not be ; merely a promise,
a hope, a sentiment, a comfortable prediction and a great
idea. Well, if we claim the same proof for spiritual realities,
that we claim for material affairs, if we ask for rca1 sight,
for a touch of the hand, for a personal intercourse, face to
face, we ask for more than we can receive, we demand
more than our. rights, and we put one kind of evidence,
that is very good in its proper place, in a position where it
does not belong, to a test it cannot, and ought not to receive,
and' we do this in opposition to all the laws of common
sense ; and we must not suppose because Thomas felt the
print of the nails, and thrust his hand into the side, that
all ought to have the same privilege, since the hearty bless
ing was given at the very time Thomas was gratified, to
those zc/;o not seeing with the bodily eye, yet were willing
to believe.

5
We should know that our Redeemer lives through our
consciousness of the world's need of him, by our personal
requirement of His ever blessed help, through the claims
He made for himself, when He said, " Lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end," through the powerful influence
of His unspotted life, through the regenerating effect of
His mighty teachings, through the witness in our own
hearts, and through the testimonies of millions of saints
ever since the resurrection of our Lord, who have lived in
this faith, and have passed away with its glorious declara
tion on their trembling lips.
To me there is no greater argument for the existence
of Jesus Christ in the past, and of His perpetual presence,
than the fact, that all ages have need of Him, and all ages
and souls are incomplete without Him.
"My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God,"
said one of old. Well, this living God came, and comes,
and will come, through the Lord Jesus Christ, because the
heart and flesh do cry for Him, are weak without Him,
and will perish unless He be present. Some deliverer,
some teacher, some preserver, some Messiah, some Re
deemer must come, seems to be taught from Genesis to
Malachi, and all the books of the Old Testament condense
a sad wail, express a vital void, contain an inspiriting pro
phecy, and open clearly the great desire of the human
heart for a more decided revelation of God in some mani
fested human being ; and we shall find .too, as we sift the
records of thousands of years, that wherever there has
been a cry, there has been an answer; wherever there has

been a need, a supply has been given ; wherever a prayer
has been universal, deep, rich, strong, earnest, and pure,
a response has been sent ; and always a deep seated want
has found its holy coronation. God it is true takes His
time, but He will appoint the right. time, and He never dis
appoints the true desires, the earnest longings, and the sin
cere cravings of His needy children. After such a long
expectation, such a sharp outcry, such a holy entreaty,
and such a deep-seated wail, it was philosophically neces
sary judging from all other rules, that a Redeemer should
come and live upon the earth; that is, human need, human
expostulation, and human famine led the Almighty to send
His son to bless the world.
Then too, our Lord made a claim for himself as pres
ent with the people, not only then, when He came, but in
all ages forever, long after the people with whom He lived,
who heard his voice and who looked into his face, had
vanished from the world forever. They might perish-
bodily, but Fle would endure ; and He said plainly, "Lo, I
am with you alwaj's, even unto the end of the world ;'' not
to the end of that dispensation, as some would explain it ;
not to the ascension ; not to the seeming end of His own
life; for that would be no promise, no comfort, no light; it
would simply mean what we all of us could say ; it would
simply be a re-iteration of a self-evident truth ; it would
only be exclaiming, I will live with you till I die ; I will
stay till I go away ; I am here till I disappear ; and no such
words could one like Him utter, words that would be stale,
profitless, juiceless, and chilly ; but He meant, when He

said, " Lo, I am with you always" forever and forever;
that all eternity was within His measurement, and that He
would be present, alive, and comforting a/wavs, in all ways,
at all times, and in all places, so that a real disciple can
say, "I know that my Redeemer lives" now, for He said
that He would always live, and all things that He said were
true, His yea was yea, and His nay was nay. I do not
think that our Lord's life, as simply investing Palestine, as
glorifying only Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Jerusalem, and
other holy places, as given only to a few Jews and Gen
tiles for thirty-three years ,j and then simply becoming a
record, and to us a record nearly nineteen hundred years
old, could amount to much in way of consecration, power,
orace, beauty, and holiness to-day. We should look upon
such a life as very glorious, but as done with long ago, and
never to be repeated ; like a grand .picture hung upon the
wall, painted hundreds of years ago ; a curiosity, a splen
dor, a magnificent work of art : but only for our gazing,
never for our copy, and throwing no close tendrils over our
present way of doing artistic work. But, when Jesus says
distinctly, that He not only lives for Jews and 'for Gentiles
nineteen hundred years ago, but for Americans and Bos-
tonians this hour ; that He is in this church, just as near,
just as close, and just as uplifting as He was in the temple.,
or on the roadside, or by the Sea of Galilee ages ago ; then
He is not only a past fact, but a living reality, and He
effects us not through history merely, but by a mighty per
sonality, and it is a splendid triumph for us, that we know
that our Redeemer lives, and know it from His own lips.

Again, in one sense, the Redeemer lives to-day, and in a
sense that even a thorough unbeliever can almost accept,
that is, through the powerful influence of his unspotted
life ; through the regenerating effect of his mighty teach
ings, through the witness in our own hearts, and through
the heartfelt testimony of millions of saints who have
now passed up to God.
How many say, what is the use of being good? The
wicked rule the world, the wicked gain the prizes, sin
always -pays, and the good ones, the holy ones, the honest,
earnest, and pure ones take the lowest seat unnoticed, un
prized, and suffering.
Well, when we take a small section of time, and judge
by that, these complaints seem to have grains of truth
about them, and we often find sin on the throne ; and vir
tue in the dust, and the hurrahs of the multitude are for
success, and not for real worth.
David said, you know thousands of years ago, " Be
hold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world ;
verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my
hands in innocency." But soon afterwards, as if ashamed
of such words, he cries out, " But it is good for me to
draw near to God ; I have put my trust in the Lord God
that I may declare all thy words." Then he took a larger
view, and looked over a wider territory of time.
And the Psalmist said also at another time you know,
" I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading
himself like a green bay tree, yet he passed away and lo
he was not, yea, I sought him but he could not be found."

9
Now if we take a long vision, we shall always find that
the bad life fails, rots, and disappears ; and the good life
mounts' to power, glory, and immortality.
Take the three working years of Jesus, and his good
ness seems to tell but very little; he seems to be in a
cloud ; he is put down and finally crushed bodily, but look
at Jesus Christ to-day, and what do you say about his life?
Has He not received his coronation? Does he not as
an example live now ? And will he not thus live forever?
The perpetuity of goodness seems, because it is spo
ken of so much, to be a truth that is trite, simple, almost
worn out ; but no truth has such everlasting power ; such
rich grace ; such sweet glory ; and such mighty benedic
tion ; and we know that our Redeemer lives, because it is
impossible that such a life as that should ever die ; for
death and goodness can never shake hands ; can never
enter into fellowship ; nor have any sort of communication.
The strength of sin is "death ; but the strength of good
ness is everlasting life.
Again, the Master's teachings regenerate forever;
they were not alone for that day, they were for all days ;
and for all eternity ; they apply to conduct now, as well as
then ; and they will guide us in Heaven as well as here
upon the earth, leading us to peace, honor, and righteous
ness ; they are immortal, and the One who gave them out,
would be thus immortal had he no other way of living
here and hereafter.
Not only is it true that truth crushed to earth will ever
rise again ; but it is also true that it will rise again forever,

IO

and the utterer of it will live forever ; because he uttered
it ; we can live in this badge of his glory that will enbalm
his goodness in all its triumphs ; the name may not always
be mentioned by mortal lips ; but God knows the name,
and that name is recorded in the great " Book of Books."
Once more, the witness is in our own hearts of the
ever living Redeemer, a testimony perhaps that can never
be given in the fullness of its beauty ; in the depth of its
glory ; and in the holy melody of its power to other hearts,"
since each heart has its own secret and sacred and mighty
testimony that must not be too much revealed ; yet in each
believing heart the Lord Jesus lives, thanks be to God, a
companion forever, to help, save, guide, and bless us in
every conceivable way ; and so too millions of hearts now
in Heaven, once here, have confessed that their Master
lived ; lived with them ; guided their thoughts ; hallowed
their deeds ; santified their lives ; watched them in their
sickness ; and at last opened the upper gates gently that
they might pass with their spiritual bodies into the " Eter
nal Kingdom." " I know that my Redeemer liveth," said one called
Job of old, and that grand utterance, that holy anthem,
that beautiful poem, and that splendid proclamation can
now be caught up by believing souls ; and many souls has
it cheered ; many hearts strengthened ; and many lives
glorified ; ay, it has been a bridge for the dying ones over
the chasm, into the great city ; it has been a balm for the
mourner, lifting his weeping eyes in thanksgiving unto
God; it has been the "open sesame" to the one trouble,

II

throwing widely open the doors of the cave, and revealing
the sparkling jewels inside ; it has been the anodyne in all
cases of doubt, anxiety, and pain ; bringing peace, hope,
faith, and coronation. Glory be to God !
"I know that my Redeemer lives!" This Easter
Sunday let every child of God make this glorious declara
tion ; and may the outward expression be only the echo of
the solid conviction of the mind ; of the earnest yearning
of the heart ; and of the comforting testimony of the soul ;
so that when we meet the Lord, face to face, it may not be
a terrible surprise, but the holy coronation of an established
faith.

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