Joel Beeke and Mark Jones on the Reasons for God's Patience in Puritan Theology

In the destruction of the ungodly, God does so with "some regret" and He metes out His judgments by degrees.¹⁷⁰ He "pinches" rather than tearing asunder.¹⁷¹ In all God does there is equity, but in what we deserve there is not equality. Even the wicked prosper for a time; "God not only punisheth, but still continues his benefits; the old drunkard is still alive."¹⁷² The wickedness of man is an affront to God, but God nevertheless exercises patience in terms of delaying His wrath and tempering it. The question inevitably must be raised as to why God does so. The answer given above has in view the mediatorial work of Christ. This is certainly the main reason, but the patience of God toward sinners on account of Christ also shows God to be appeasable. God desires reconciliation with His creatures and so He does not destroy them at once, but gives them space for repentance.
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170. Charnock, Existence and Attributes, 728.
171. Charnock, Existence and Attributes, 729.
172. Leigh, Treatise of Divinity, 2:100.

Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012), 83.

See also Richard Muller on the Grace and Patience of God in Reformed Orthodoxy.