o save the other members of
the family. Not to save men is not to act, it is just doing
nothing." But this is a very partial view of the case. What God did
in the case of the fallen angels we know nothing, and can affirm
nothing. But one may do nothing from one side of things, and do a
great deal from another. The priest and the Levite just did nothing
as far as helping the man was concerned. They rested, but in this
rest there was action which has covered them with obloquy for all
time. And if God has special influence at His disposal, and
determines to give it to some when He KNEW that others needed it as
much, and yet withholds it from them, His withholding it is as much
an act as the gift of it. He passed the non-elect over in applying
the influence, and no ingenuity can make it otherwise. But what He
does in time He determined to do in eternity--He determined to pass
them over. The illustration, therefore, of the book is worthless.

CHAPTER III.

CALVINISTIC ELECTION CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF
GOD.

THE Divine sovereignty may be said to be the great foundation on
which the various shades of Calvinists take their stand. Here they
think they are as safe as if they stood on adamant. But assertion is
not argument, and he who asserts must prove.

Dr. Payne, in his preliminary lecture, discusses the question of
sovereignty, and endeavours to show that there is a difference
between supremacy and sovereignty. By the former punishment is
inflicted, by the latter good. If by sovereingty we mean that God
has absolute power to do whatsoever He pleases, then it will
comprehend the penalty of transgression, as well as the bestowment
of good. And this, as we apprehend, is the correct view of the case.
The Divine sovereignty being one of the main pillars of his system,
Dr. Payne gives various illustrations of it.

(1.) He instances the varied mental powers bestowed on men. He says,
"The mind of one man is marked by infantile weakness, of another by
a giant's strength. Nothing can elevate the former, nothing
permanently depress and overpower the latter. . . . In the case of
certain persons, the reasoning powers preponderate; in that of
others, the imagination. One man has little judgment, but an
exuberant fancy. Another has received the gift of a piercing
intellect; but if it be clear as a frosty night, it is also as cold.
A third is all impetuosity and fire, but it is a fire that scorches
and consu