Remains of that reverend and learned divine, John Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplain in…Remaines of that reverend and learned divine, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in…

The first reason is this, he suspends the execution ¹of punishment for a time, because the time of punishment is not as yet come. You know the ⟨p. 265⟩Crown is not won till the race be run out to the end, so in this the full time is not come; sin is not ripe enough, but when it is full ripe, then he will lance them, and this was the cause that the Lord did not punish the Amorites, because their sins was not full: it was not come unto the full ²pitch, sin is growing all the time of a mans life: it is like fruit, it is sooner ripe in some then in others, and that is the reason that some go a long time in sin, and yet are not punished; when others are taken in the very fact: there is a bound and stint set unto every mans sin, thither he shall go, and no further: and therefore the Apostle saith, Rom. 2. 5. that some are kept till the revelation ³of Gods just Judgement, till he reveal himself in his just Judgement; this time is not yet come, and therefore it is, that they are not cut off. Again the Apostle saith in another place: What if God will suffer with great patience, the vessels of wrath ⁴fitted for destruction? that is, what if God will bear with some a great while, and punish some presently? What doth it advantage them, have they cause to boast themselves, or rather were it not far better for them to be cut off presently, then to be spared a while, and then to have the judgement the greater? therefore when God will make his power known to men, he will suffer them with great patience, that he may give the greater stroke: it is true, men cannot conceive how God can bear, and be so patient towards wicked men: but you must know that He is full of patience: ⟨p. 266⟩it is his nature, he is patience it self, though patience be a quality in us, yet it is not so in God, it is his essence.