What an astonishing act of love was this for the Father to give the delight of His soul, out of His very bosom, for poor sinners ! All tongues must need pause and falter that attempt the expressions of His grace; for expressions here are swallowed up, in that, " God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." So loved them ? How did He love them? Ah, here you must excuse the tongues of angels. Which of us would deliver a child, the child of our delights, an only child, to death, for the greatest inheritance in the world ? What tender parent can endure parting with such a child ? When Hagar was taking her last leave (as she thought) of her Ishmael, "she went and sat her down over against him, a good way off … for she said, ' Let me not see the death of the child ?' And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept" (Gen. 21:16). Though she were none of the best of mothers, nor he the best of children, yet she could not give up her child. Oh, it was hard to part !

What an outcry did David make, even for an "'Absalom, wishing he had died for him ! What a breach has the death of some children made in the hearts of some parents, which will never be closed up in this world ? Yet, surely, never did any child lie so close to a parent's heart as Christ to His Father's; and yet He willingly parts with Him, though His only one, the Son of His delights; and that to a death, a cursed death; for sinners, for the worst of sinners. Oh, the admirable love of God to men! Matchless love! A love past finding out! Let all men, therefore, in the matter of their redemption, give equal glory to the Father with the Son (Johns:23). If the Father had not loved thee, He had never parted with such a Son for thee. Selected