I remember a person once saying he did not like the word grace; he thought the word love meant the same and was much better. This is a mistake; grace goes a great deal further than love. Man loves that which he thinks is in some way worthy of love, and he thinks God is the same as himself, and therefore, says he, “I must turn to God someday and try to be worthy of His love; and then He will love me.” But the grace of God is the very opposite of this human thought. I do not know anything like it in the whole world.

“What is grace?” said I, the other day. “Mercy” was the reply. Well, it is true the love of God and the mercy of God are both very, very wonderful: “God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses.” Both the mercy and love of God are thus in grace; that is, in pure unmerited favor. Yet this grace of God goes further, yea, far beyond the reach of all human thought.

Let us suppose a criminal standing condemned before the judge. Mercy would be a great thing shown to such a one, but if it were possible in the heart of a human judge to love such a one, so utterly worthless and undeserving, that would indeed be a wonder. But what would he think if the judge so loved the poor guilty one as to put himself really in the place of the prisoner; to bear the full penalty of all his crimes; and then to take him into his own house, making him a partner with himself and say, “as long as I live, all that I have is yours”? Ah! Tell me where among the cold-hearted sons of men, where was ever grace shown like this? No! No! The glory of this grace belongs alone to my God. Oh, how shall I tell of His wondrous grace!