We do not accept that title without qualification, but we certainly are not ashamed of it. The truth Calvin thundered forth was identical with the truth Paul had preached and set down in writing centuries before. This was also the substance of Whitefield s preaching, which God honored so extensively as to produce the great revival in his day. Various names are given to it in the Scriptures. He is its theme.
Grace is a truth peculiar to divine revelation.
It is a concept to which the unaided powers of man s mind never rises. Grace is absent from all the great heathen religions Brahmanism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism. In the third place, grace, then, is the very opposite of justice. Justice shows no favor and knows no mercy. Grace is the reverse of this.