Let us take an illustration of its importance. Suppose that we were living in England, and that we were well acquainted with Victoria—the good and gracious queen of that great kingdom. And suppose that it should please the queen to make us a present of one of the fine old castles of England, with all the lands and property belonging to it. In giving us this castle, or, as the lawyers say, in “_conveying_ it to us,” the queen would order a title deed to be made out. This deed would be necessary; because if any one else should claim that the castle belonged to him, we could then open the deed and show that the queen had really given it to us. A title deed, like this of which we are now speaking, is generally written on a sheet of parchment. In this deed would be found the name of the castle, with a full description of it, and all the property belonging to it. It would be stated here how many acres of land were connected with it; and then it would be written down that the queen had given it to us, and that it was to belong to us, and to our children, or heirs forever. But after all this had been written out, the deed would be good for nothing unless something more were done to it. It would be necessary for the queen to sign her own name to the deed—Victoria Regina—and then put the royal seal upon it. The property described in it could never become ours, unless the queen’s signature and seal were added to it. When Jesus came down from heaven to earth, his great object was to secure for his people a home in heaven,—a mansion in the skies. When he hung upon the cross, we may well say that he was writing out the title deed to those mansions, in his own blood. But, after this deed had thus been written, it was necessary for his Father in heaven to show that he approved of what had been done. When Jesus died and was buried, we may say that he took with him the title deed to our heavenly home, to get his Father to sign it and seal it. And when the resurrection of Jesus took place it showed that this was done. Then God the Father did, as it were, say—“I approve of what my beloved son has done. I sign and seal the title deed which he has written out to secure a home in heaven for all who love and serve him.” This shows us how very important the resurrection of Jesus was. And because it is so important, we may well feel a great interest in studying the subject of Christ’s resurrection. And in doing this there are two things for us carefully to consider. These are—_The proof of the resurrection of Christ; and the lessons we are taught by it._