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2 THE PRESBYTERI/
THE "NEW SONG" TO THE REDEEMER.
In the fifth chapter of Revelation we read that the
redeemed sing a "new" song, in the words, "Thou
hast redeemed us by thy blood." It is a sweet, precious
song, hut is it constantly "new"? In the ages
of eternity will it not become old?
When first we enter within the heavenly portals,
it will certainly be new. True it is that we have
learned on earth that we are sinners, and that Christ
lias redeemed us from our sins. But when for the
first time we sec our God, face to face, we shall learn
much that is new about ourselves and about the re*
demption that is in Christ Jesus. On that day surely
it will be a new song.
As long as Job, the upright man, argued with his
fellow men, lie insisted that his bereavements were
not on account of some special outbreaking sin. He
knew himself a sinner, saved by grace; but he knew
it in a general, vague way. But after a while (read
the last chapters of the book) he had a vision of God.
and he cried, "Now mine eye secth thee; wherefore
1 abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." He
had a new view of his own sins, and consequently a
new view of the pardoning love of God, and lie could
sing with new meaning, Thou hast redeemed me.
And when we enter heaven, our eyes shall see our
God in a far richer sense than that of Tob. We shall
sec our old sins with a vividness of which we have
1
had no conception. Then we shall appreciate with
like wonderful vividness the breadth and length, the
depth and height, of Christ's forgiving love; and
our song will be a new song.
When .we shall behold the majesty of Christ our
God, face to face, we shall apprehend something of
the extent of his sacrifice in taking on him the form of
tnan. As we learn that lesson, again we shall find
"new" meaning in the words "Thou hast redeemed
lis."
Each day that we spend in heaven will be marked
by new remembrances of events on earth which reveal
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will give fresh newness to our song of praise.
May we not expect that each clay will bring to us
some new information as to the extent of Christ's humiliation,
as to the bitterness of his earthly sorrows,
as to the keenness of his wrongs and insults; as to the
shame of his condemnation. If so, there will be constantly
recurring newness to our refrain "redeemed
us by thy blood."
Rut let us note that in this fifth chapter of Revelation,
the "new" song is "Thou art worthy to take the
book." What book? The book which reveals the
wonderful and mysterious workings of God in redemption.
That book, the revelation of God's wise
warnings, goes on to snow (_in the second seal) how
God turns the red horse of war into one of the agencies
of Gospel progress. In the third seal it shows
how God transforms famine or death (represented by
the black horse)?be it physical famine or spiritual
death?into ain instrumentality of honor to Christ and
of blessing to man. Then in the fourth seal, which
pictures the pale horse of persecution, we see Christ
making the blood of the martyrs become the seed of
tN OF THE SOUTH. October 27, 1009.
the Church. The opening of the seals, the exhibition
of the marvellous ways in which Christ maketh all
things work together for good to us, can not fail to
give fresh newness to our song day by day.
One day we may listen to Noah; another day Moses
may give us the unwritten history of the Exodus;
on other days David, Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel, and thousands
of others may tell of how God shaped their lives
for their maximum happiness. As thus we studv the
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"thenic of God's salvation*' surely we shall "find it
ever new."
And in the newness there is constant joy, fresh joy
each and every day.
THE BUDGET SYSTEM.
The current number of The Home Mission Herald
contains a most practical and suggestive article on
"The Iludget System," as the solution of many of
the problems of finance in connection with the general
causes of beneficence. The article should be carefully
read by all who desire to accomplish the best results
in the happiest and most effective manner.
The need for some improved method is unquestionable.
The church has long felt it, in her longing
for greater results, and as the means thereto for some
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and made more steady. She has been conscious
of the need for it when she has witnessed the
active, though so far as we have seen, always pleas- ,
ant, competition of the various executive agencies of
the church, in the oft-repeated struggles over the assignment
of months for the several causes, in the
protests against changing certain ones or encroaching
upon them by the introduction of new collections
or schemes, in the gradual adding of causes and dates
until now the assignments by the General Assembly
reach some sixteen, and in the effort of the Assembly
'itself, at its last meeting, to make some adjustment
by its appointment of an ad interim committee on the
"'Co-ordination of the Work of the Executive Gommittees."
The "budget system" contemplates first a careful
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relative needs and claims of the several causes which
she has adopted as proper causes of beneficence. Then
there is to follow an adjustmnt of the results of this
study in a designation of a proportionate amount to
each cause according to its relative importance and
needs. The method has been practically tested, wc
are told, by a number of the large denominations, and
with great success. Its longest trial has been by the
United Presbyterian Church, which has employed it
for a generation with the happiest results, securing
under it the distinction of contributing more per capita
to foreign missions than any other body in the land,
and that without neglecting the other causes. Wherever
tested it -is said to have produced the finest re- ,?
suits.
In behalf of the "budget system" it is claimed that
it offers a sound business method in the place of the
haphazard method which places the church at the
mercy of bad weather, unpropituous seasons, visits of
numerous agents, the cry of "a crisis in the work,"