Our Lord is risen from the dead; and from henceforth the hope of a future life is no more a dream, a theory, a fond hope. To us who believe, it is a certainty beyond all doubt. Because He lives, we shall live also. When the women and the other disciples had become assured that their Lord had really risen; when He had spoken and eaten with them, and their hands had touched and handled Him, the distress and grief of the last few days must have seemed to them like a bad dream. So will the longest, weariest life seem to the disciple who looks at it from the rest of Paradise. It was long, but the end came at last. It was hard to bear, but it is all over now. The poor, weak soul trembled at the passage, but it was safely made, and the Home is gained, from which there is no going out forevermore. It was a dark, restless night perhaps, full of sad dreams and fears, but it is past and gone now. The sun has risen, and it will never set. Our Lord is risen from the dead! He calls us, as He did His disciples, to eat and drink with Him. Let us hasten to obey. And if we are so shut-in that we cannot go with the multitude to His holy table, let us prepare Him a place in our hearts, and rest assured that He will come and sup with us and we with Him. _CONCLUSION._ _LOOKING BACK._ EVERY wise merchant, at the close of a busy season, looks back over his business, and reckons up his profits and losses. We, dear friends, have been passing through a season of more than usual occupation and privilege. Lent is now at an end. Let us look back and see if we have gained or lost ground in our spiritual progress during the last busy days. We have surely gained, if we have used them as we ought. If we have laid out a plan of work or study or self-denial, and adhered to it as far as possible, our wills have been strengthened by the process. If we have taken unavoidable interruptions pleasantly, if we have borne with criticism, kind or unkind, good-naturedly, if we have been un-ostentatious in our devotions, while yielding not a jot of what we believe to be right, we have surely grown in grace. If we have laid aside light and amusing books, that we might have more time for religious reading and for Bible study, we have increased in knowledge. In short, if we have used the time as we ought, we have laid up strength and formed good habits which will help us through the entire year.