profit by it. We quote the description: To illustrate, suppose you wish to know the precise meaning of the word 'nurture,' in the passage, Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' You first turn to the Index, and look for the word, which you will find in alphabetical order in the middle of page 465,-where you will read, nurture, 305.' Turn then to page 305, and look over the page, noticing the words printed in black type, and in the middle of the second column you will find 'Nurture, Eph. vi. 4; instruction, 2 Tim. iii. 16; chastening, Heb. xii. 5, 7, 11; chastisement, Heb. xii. 8.' Now the Greek word stands above the English, but you need not read it unless you choose. You will see, however, that the word rendered nurture occurs six times in the New Testament; once it is translated nurture,' once instruction,' three times chastening,' and once 'chastisement,' and hence you will readily conclude that nurture includes the entire work of training up children." Ebenezers: or, Records of Prevailing Prayer. Written and selected by H. L. HASTINGS. Boston: Scriptural Tract Repository; London: Haughton & Co., Paternoster Row. A BOOK that stimulates faith by facts proving that God hears prayer, must be healthful to any reader. We have spent some hours over these anecdotes, and feel refreshed. Some of them are very striking, and not a few of them even romantic. The critic-or rather the reviewer, for this is not a book for criticism-who wishes to report honestly to his constituents, naturally asks, Is not this or that report of alleged answer to prayer exaggerated, or, at all events, em bellished during its migrations? Possibly, nay, probably. What then? Trace the question to its root, and you will find the latent unbelief that makes our prayers such heartless and formal things. What myriads pray, if such words can be called prayer, who never expect an answer, and never give a second thought to their so-called petitions! But the facts of this book are in perfect harmony with the testimony of Scripture regarding the prayer of faith and its answers; aye, and if it were necessary, we ourselves, from personal experience, could add to its pages. These "Ebenezers" are of three classes:-Part I. Prayers for Rescue, Relief, and Blessing. Part II. Prayers for Healing. Part III. Prayer for Conversion. The Reign of Christ on Earth: or, The Voice of the Church in all Ages concerning the Coming and Kingdom of the Redeemer. By DANIEL T. TAYLOR. Revised and edited, with a preface, by H. L. HASTINGS. Boston: H. L. Hastings; London: Haughton & Co., Paternoster Row. THE glorious apostolic doctrine of the "blessed hope" has never entirely perished from the earth. There have been at least "two or three witnesses" from the days of Paul until now. Those who tell us that Millenarianism is a modern thing and a heresy are not very well acquainted with the New Testament; and of "The voice of the Church in all ages," on this sublime subject they know nothing. There is no want of charity in this statement; on the contrary, charity prompts it; for it implies that if they did know the doctrine and its history they would not oppose brethren who teach that the return of the Lord is the grand event for which His friends should look. We give Mr. Taylor's valuable and elaborate history a hearty welcome. It condenses facts, and brings into view honoured names from age to age of men who saw that the conversion of the world by Church instrumentality is no part of the revealed purpose of God, but that the Church is to be a witness for her Head until He come to be the Divine Ruler of all nations, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. If this truth is ever to be recognised by modern churches, the sooner the better, both for their own light and for a testimony to the world. See "The Church not the Kingdom," in the present number. NOTICES. "A CONSTANT READER" (Bradford). Thanks. "AN EARNEST INQUIRER." It is not worth your while to search for arguments "to silence men who take upon themselves to legislate for God. He does not teach the horror of which they are so unaccountably fond, and He does not need our counsel (Isa. xl. 13, 14; Rom. xi. 34, 35). "G" (Gibraltar).-The passages you quote are very precious to us; but there is not a word about water in any of them. The Holy Spirit only can baptize into the death and resurrection of Christ. "A. B." We thank you sincerely for the high testimony you bear to the value of this Magazine. "LOMOND."-Has it never struck you that the portraiture of the Christ of the gospels MUST BE from the original? It is utterly beyond the power of the wisest philosophers; and to say that the imagination of the fishermen of Galilee created it is simply absurd. If Jesus had never lived, the story of His life could never have been written. This is ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN ! "ONE OF THEM."-We quite agree with your remarks in relation to the fearful storms at sea. The signs of the times appeal to the wise; for they only can read them. "W. L."-We are pleased to see "The Messenger" beginning the year hopefully, enlarged in size, and with good articles. We wish success to this advocate of Gospel truth. The price is twopence, monthly. Goldie, 90, Mitchell Street, Glasgow. MR. STOCK is now the publisher of the "Evangelical Magazine," and the Rev. W. M. Statham its new editor. The profits of this venerable serial go to the widows of ministers, a fact which should go a long way to sustain its circulation. DR. PETAVEL (Geneva) writes: "From year to year we are gaining ground on the Continent. I saw Dr. de Pressensé the other day in Paris, and he promised me he would publish in his monthly, La Revue Chrétienne,' an article of the Rev. C. Malan, and several others of Mr. Byse, all in support of our convictions. For my own part, I have been permitted to undertake a free and full defence of Conditional Immortality both in La Critique Religieuse,' a Review for inquirers, and Le Chrétien évangélique,' a leading magazine of Switzerland." THE RAINBOW: A Magazine of Christian Literature, with Special Reference to the Bebealed Future of the Church and the World. MARCH, 1882. RESURRECTION ROYALTY. "He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead."Acts xvii. 31. "For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain."-Acts xxviii. 20. THE resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead is the Father's seal to His Messiahship. It is also the Divine sign-manual to the great sacrifice of reconciliation. It is the keystone to the glorious arch which henceforth connects heaven and earth. The way is open now; the barriers are all removed; the path is clear; and whosoever will may tread the King's highway with the certainty of an abundant entrance into the city to which it leads. No wonder that Jesus spoke of His resurrection with glad anticipation. He knew, as only He could, its marvellous importance. No wonder that apostles referred to it in exulting tones. They saw that it consolidated the entire framework of revealed truth. No wonder that the early Christians rejoiced in it. They felt that it was life, immortality, and glory to them. In the light of the resurrection" the offence of the cross" is gone, the sorrow of the dark hour is turned into the joy of an unsetting sun, and the gloom of the grave is illumined by an uncreated light from the highest heaven. Looked at through the resurrection, the "story of the Man of Sorrows" is no longer an awful mystery, from which the mind shrinks in dismay, but a lesson in the wondrous ways of God, fitted to win all hearts to His throne, and to fill them with adoring thanksgiving. Taken alone, the sorrows and sufferings, the denial and betrayal, the crown of thorns and the mock sceptre, Gethsemane and the cross, crush the heart to the dust; but when they are seen to culminate in resurrection, it is thrilled with irrepressible joy and worships the God of infinite wisdom and love. It is a night of fearful storm, of unprecedented violence, filling all hearts with terror, in which heaven seems to have forgotten the world and to have left it a final and eternal wreck, followed by a morning of peerless splendour, the best and the brightest that ever poured its rejoicing beams on the earth. It was the dawn of a new era, the emergence of a new world from chaos, the herald light of a new manifestation of God to the sons of men. It was thus that Jesus spoke of it to His disciples, seeing across the gloom that lay between Him and the glory:"From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matt. xvi. 21). "And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify Him; and the third day He shall rise again" (Matt. xx. 17-19). "He taught His disciples, and said unto them, The Son of Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after that He is killed, He shall rise the third day" (Mark ix. 31). "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day" (Luke ix. 22). "All things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on; and they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death; and the third day He shall rise again" (Luke xviii. 31-33). Thus, whilst at different times the rejection is foretold, with its attendant circumstances, and the actors in the sorrowful scene are described, invariably the resurrection on the third day closes the prophecy-the bright light from heaven shining in the near horizon over the dark deeds of men. And it is not less remarkable than instructive that the disciples failed to realise the plain meaning of our Lord's words. "They understood none of these things; and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken." Behind this fact there is another which accounts for it, namely, their settled belief in the Messianic rights of their Master. How could He, the Son of David, who was to sit upon David's throne, be put to death? The thought so troubled them that they were afraid to ask Him for further information. The belief of the disciples concerning the continuance of the Messiah was the popular one; hence on one occasion, to a statement of His, the people answered, "We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever, and how sayest Thou, The Son of Man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man ?" (John xii. 34). Thus, we have in the very fact of their reluctance to receive testimony concerning His death, a strong incidental proof of the deep hold which the doctrine of Messiah's kingdom had taken upon the public mind. As we have previously seen, the law did say the very thing here alleged; but it also spoke of the sufferings of Christ, and as they were unable to reconcile the two oracles, they ignored the latter. The time came, however, for the solution of the difficulty. To deny an unpleasant doctrine is not the way to deal with it. It will take its course in spite of our unbelief, and when God throws fresh light upon it, as He did upon the sufferings of Christ, by raising Him from the dead, its place in the system of things will be found exceedingly important; so much so, indeed, that to displace it would be to derange the entire economy. Hence, when the time came for the explanation of what appeared to the wondering disciples so incredible a thing as the death of their Lord, they see the truth as they never saw it before, and grasp it with a vigour upon which we gaze with admiration. Not now in fragments, but as a consistent and wondrous whole, it stands before them, and they are, in consequence, a brotherhood of new and noble men. Their fears and doubts and timidity are gone, and a college of heroes meets the eye of the spectator. Their fearlessness, boldness, courage, daring, are altogether admirable. Their Lord has risen from the dead, and ascended to the Father, and sent down the Holy Spirit, and there step forth upon the world's platform a few men to address it in a style such as it never heard before. Assembled priests and scribes are troubled at their presence, men of large culture are confounded by the force of their logic, and crowned heads tremble before them. How is all this to be accounted for, except upon the principle that they recognise the wonderful wisdom of God counteracting all the evil designs and deeds of men, and establishing the kingly claims of their Lord upon an immovable foundation? The Heir has been rejected and killed. He was charged with imposture, sedition, and blasphemy; but by rising from the dead the proof is Divinely established that these charges were all false; and now His apostles come forward and boldly affirm that He is all that He said, and that He ought to be recognised as Son of David, Son of God, Lord of all. These postresurrection assertions of His supremacy are in every way remarkable. For clearness, and force, and a constant appeal to the ancient Scriptures they are unsurpassed. Let us hear Peter, the man who a few weeks before denied his Master. How speaks this man now? "Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know; Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain; whom Gcd hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning Him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He |