The Coming of the Kingdom.

Jesus taught his disciples, and hence all believers in him, to pray "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." The kingdom referred to is God's kingdom, and all who take this prayer upon their lips are asking that this world may become pure, righteous, heavenly. Will it ever become so? There are those who think it will not, while others, and their number is steadily increasing, believe it will.

The kingdom for whose coming we are taught to pray is not that of a particular form of governmental rule. It is the invisible yet effective reign of truth and righteousness, purity and love; conformity of man's will to God's will; the establishment in the mind and heart of the principles of the mind and heart of the principles of the Gospel of Jesus. Therefore, whenever and wherever a person becomes christlike or God-like he is within the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, whether on earth or elsewhere. To the extent that he is within that kingdom he experiences the eternal or divine life, he is spiritually saved.

As the world moves upward its ideals are raised, precisely as in the life of the individual. And it goes forward in the upward way only because individual lives are becoming better in quality, and the number of the better lives is proportionately increasing. Were every person on the earth truly Christian, or within the divine kingdom, or even up to the standard of the best people now living, what would follow? The cessation of the sins and crimes, the outrages upon public, social, family, and personal rigthts and interests, which now often shock the community. Purity, sympathy, love, and mutual helpfulness would universally prevail. No one would suffer in person or possessions because of another's wrong-doing or wickedness. The business world would have no troubles because of the injustice of one class toward another. The strong would aid the weak until they became strong. Ignorance would give place to knowledge, selfishness to brotherliness, envy to generous commendation, every harmful evil now existing to universal peace, joy, and prosperity. Such is the heavenly kingdom, God's kingdom, and the results it is intended to effect on earth. It is coming more and more in every century. Some day it will be here in full force. This century, this generation, this year sees more of God and truth and duty among men than any in the past saw. Today a greater number of men and women than ever before are trying to give practical expression to the Gospel teaching, the eternal kingdom.—The Universalist Leader.

Mathematics in Transcendent Form.

Of any cycle of time the symbol is a circle. The longer the cycle, the larger the circle, and the more slight the curvature of the circumference. Should the cycle, passing all bounds, become interminable, the curve of the symbolic cirele's cirumference would merge into a straight line. The infinite circle, then, is one whose cirumference is a straight line. What of the centre? At each one of all successive points of time, eternity past and eternity to come exactly equal one another, reaching backward, reaching forward, each an infinite distance; and so these points are, each and all alike, the centre of entire eternity. This centre is then also a straight line. Further, since from centre to circumference of any circle the direct distance is always the same, centre and circumference are parallel, at an infinite distance apart. And all diameters—all of which pass through the centre—merge into the excended centre.

This is a mathematical parable, illustrating complete emancipation from self in becoming wholly "alive unto God." In the selfish life we revolve, self-centred, in a pitifully narrow orbit, held, indeed, under God's control, but not responsive in heart to Him. As, awakening in heart, we begin to know and acknowledge God, we attain enlargement of life; and as we become better and better acquainted with Him, this enlargement increases continually. We revolve in a wider and wider orbit; for the bond of selfishness becomes weaker and weaker. When at length completely loosed from it, we revolve no longer, but progress right onward, straight forward, perfectly harmonious (parallel?) with God, though He is always infinitely greater than we are. Deeper and deeper into eternal love and light we advance, "partakers of the divine nature." All the old selfish aims—diameters of the petty old orbit of self-seeking—are transmuted into workings of love. Then we shall well know what our Lord Jesus Christ meant in saying, "He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."—Christian Register.

A Sioux Indian Presbytery.

The Presbytery representing the Sioux Indian churches in the Dakotas is composed of 35 churches and 2,110 communicants. The officers of the churches, with only a few exceptions, are full-blooded Sioux Indians, and the pastors are Indians or half or quarter bloods, and are all graduates of some good school, generally of a Presbyterian Home Mission school. The efficiency and churchly qualities of the pastors and officers are spoken of in very high terms by General W. V. Lucas in The Herald of Gospel Liberty, who says they are doing their best to respond to the exhortations of the Presbyterian Home Missionary Society urging self-relaince. At the meeting of the Presbytery in Oahe, S. Dak., in October, when more than two thousand Indians were present, questions were discussed concerning a good home, good citizenship, and the tendency of returned students to go back to their old ways, and the remedy for it. More than one thousand full-blooded Sioux Indians took part in the celebration of the Lord's Supper.—The Christian Advocate.