"[5] All this is more manifest if we consider the provocations he has, wherein his slowness to anger infinitely transcends the patience of any creature—indeed, the spirits of all the angels and glorified saints in heaven would be too narrow to bear the sins of the world for one day, even the sins of the churches alone, which is a little spot in the whole world. It is because “he is the Lord,” one of an infinite power over himself, that not only the whole mass of the rebellious world but of “the sons of Jacob” (either considered as a church and nation springing from the loins of Jacob or considered as the regenerate part of the world, sometimes called the seed of Jacob) “are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6). And Jonah was angry with God for recalling his anger from a sinful people. Had God committed the government of the world to the glorified saints, who are perfect in love and holiness, the world would have had an end long ago; they would have acted that which they sue for at the hands of God and is not granted them: “How long, Lord, holy and true, do you not avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev. 6:10).
God has designs of patience above the world, above the sinless angels, and above perfectly renewed spirits in glory. The greatest created long-suffering is infinitely disproportioned to the divine. Fire from heaven would have been showered down before the greatest part of a day were spent if a created patience had the conduct of the world, though that creature were possessed with the spirit of patience, extracted from all the creatures that are in heaven or are, or ever were, upon the earth. Methinks Moses intimates this, for as soon as God had passed by, proclaiming his name gracious and long-suffering, as soon as ever Moses had paid his adoration, he falls a-praying that God would go with the Israelites: “For it is a stiff-necked people” (Ex. 34:8–9). What an argument is here for God to go along with them! He might rather, since he had heard him but just before say he would “by no means clear the guilty” (Ex. 34:7), desire God to stand further off from them, for fear the fire of his wrath should burst out from him to burn them as he did the Sodomites. But he considers that as none but God had such anger to destroy them, so none but God had such a patience to bear with them. It is as much as if he should have said, “Lord, if you should send the most tenderhearted angel in heaven to have the guidance of this people, they would be a lost people.” A period will quickly be set to their lives; no created strength can restrain its power from crushing such a stiff-necked people. Flesh and blood cannot bear them, nor any created spirit of a greater might."
From Discourse 14 of The Existence and Attributes of God. Edited by Mark Jones
God has designs of patience above the world, above the sinless angels, and above perfectly renewed spirits in glory. The greatest created long-suffering is infinitely disproportioned to the divine. Fire from heaven would have been showered down before the greatest part of a day were spent if a created patience had the conduct of the world, though that creature were possessed with the spirit of patience, extracted from all the creatures that are in heaven or are, or ever were, upon the earth. Methinks Moses intimates this, for as soon as God had passed by, proclaiming his name gracious and long-suffering, as soon as ever Moses had paid his adoration, he falls a-praying that God would go with the Israelites: “For it is a stiff-necked people” (Ex. 34:8–9). What an argument is here for God to go along with them! He might rather, since he had heard him but just before say he would “by no means clear the guilty” (Ex. 34:7), desire God to stand further off from them, for fear the fire of his wrath should burst out from him to burn them as he did the Sodomites. But he considers that as none but God had such anger to destroy them, so none but God had such a patience to bear with them. It is as much as if he should have said, “Lord, if you should send the most tenderhearted angel in heaven to have the guidance of this people, they would be a lost people.” A period will quickly be set to their lives; no created strength can restrain its power from crushing such a stiff-necked people. Flesh and blood cannot bear them, nor any created spirit of a greater might."
From Discourse 14 of The Existence and Attributes of God. Edited by Mark Jones
