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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 Cnrl's enpriol ?,A ?<>?? ? 17?L J '1 ~ w.|?v>?> 1V?V auu vaic lUI US. JZ-ilCIl UIV inert1fore 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 - - J "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 <VCtPm K\r ttrlt 1VI1 linr * 4-1? <.i..vu uvi vyiivmif;;* iiugui uc greauy enlarged 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 ctllHv n n r\ rloiartninA^iA.. I, .. 1' ?1 1 - ^ 1 r r ' 1 ^>.uuj uuu uvibiiuiuaiiuii uy uiL' cuurcii iiersen oi tnc 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,"