on the following Wednesday, news arrived of Buckingham's defeat (8 Nov.) He was not allowed to preach again, but considered that he had obtained a moral victory for his cause.
But Preston's health was now breaking; his lungs were diseased, he fell into a rapid decline, and died at a friend's house at Preston-Capes, Northamptonshire, on Sunday, 20 July 1628; he was buried on 28 July in Fawsley church, John Dod [q.v.], rector of the neighbouring parish of Fawsley, preaching the funeral sermon. There is no monument to his memory. A fine engraved portrait of him is prefixed to his 'New Covenant,' 1629; it is poorly reproduced in Clarke; there are also two smaller engravings. As Ball describes him, 'he was of an able, firme, well-tempered constitution, comely visadge, vigorous and vived eye.' He was unmarried. His will provided for his mother and brothers, founded exhibitions at Emmanuel College, and left his books and furniture to Thomas Ball [q. v.], his favourite pupil and his minute biographer.
Preston's early inclination for diplomacy was symptomatic of his character, which Fuller has summed as that of 'a perfect politician,' apt 'to flutter most on that place which was furthest from his eggs.' He had great self-command, kept his own counsel, and was impervious to outside criticism. Only to Ball does he seem to have frankly bared his mind, and Ball's admiring delineation of him furnishes a singular picture of cautious astuteness and constitutional reserve. It is clear that his heart was firmly set on the propagation of the calvinistic theology; his posthumous works (edited by Richard Sibbes, John Davenport, Thomas Ball, and partly by Thomas Goodwin, D.D. [q. v.]) are a storehouse of argument in its favour. They comprise:
- 'The Saints Daily Exercise; or a … Treatise of Prayer,' &c., 3rd edit. 1629, 4to (on 1 Thess. v. 17).
- 'The New Covenant … xiv Sermons on Genesis, xvii. 1, 2,' &c., 1629, 4to.
- 'Four Sermons,' &c., 1630, 4to (on Eccles. ix. 1,2, 11, 12).
- 'Five Sermons … before his Majestie,' &c., 1630, 4to (on 1 John v. 15; Isaiah, lxiv. 4; Eph. v. 15; 1 Tim. iii. 15; 1 Sam. xii. 20-22).
- 'The Breastplate of Faith and Love,' &c. 1630, 4to (eighteen sermons, on Rev. i. 17; 1 Thess. i. 3; Gal. v. 6).
- 'The Doctrine of the Saints Infirmities' &c., Amsterdam [1630?], 12mo (on 2 Chron. vxx. 18-20).
- 'Life Eternal; or a … Treatise … of the Divine … Attributes in xvii Sermons,' &c. 1631, 4to.
- 'The Law Ovt Lavved,' &c. Edinburgh, 1631, 4to (on Rom. vi. 14).
- 'An Elegant … Description of Spirituall Life and Death,' &c., 1632, 4to.
- 'The Deformed Forme of a Formall Profession,' &c., Edinburgh, 1632, 4to (on 2 Tim. iii. 5); London, 1641, 4to.
- 'Sinnes Overthrow; or a … Treatise of Mortification,' &c., 2nd edit. 1633, 4to (on Col. iii. 5).
- 'Foure … Treatises,' &c. 1633, 4to (includes
- 'A Remedy against Covetousnes,' on Col. iii. 5;
- 'An Elegant and Lively Description of Spiritual Life and Death,' on John v. 25;
- 'The Doctrine of Selfe-deniall,' on Luke ix. 23, preached at Lincoln's Inn;
- 'Three Sermons upon the Sacrament,' on 1 John v. 14).
- 'The Saints Qualification,' &c., 3rd edit. 1634, 4to (ten sermons on Humiliation, nine of them on Rom. i. 18, the tenth preached before the House of Commons on Num. xxv. 10, 11; nine sermons on Sanctification, on 1 Cor. v. 17; three on communion with Christ in the Sacrament, on 1 Cor. x. 16).
- 'A Liveles Life; or Man's Spirituall Death,' &c., 3rd edit. 1635, 4to (on Eph. ii. 1-3).
- 'A Sermon preached at Lincolnes-Inne,' &c., 1635, 4to (on Gen. xxii. 14).
- 'Remaines of … John Preston,' 2nd edit. 1637, 4to ' (includes
- 'Judas his Repentance,' on Matt, xxvii. 3-5;
- 'The Saints Spirituall Strength,' on Eph. iii. 16;
- 'Pauls Conversion,' on Acts ix. 6).
- 'The Golden Scepter … Three Treatises,' &c., 1638, 4to.
- 'Mount Ebal … Treatise of the Divine Love,' &c., 1638, 4to (five sermons on 1 Cor. xvi. 22).
- 'The Saints Submission,' &c., 1638, 12mo.
- 'The Fulnesse of Christ,' &c., 1640, 4to (on John i. 16).
- 'The Christian Freedome,' &c. 1641, 4to (on Rom. vi. 14).
- 'De Irresistibilitate Gratiæ Convertentis. Thesis habita in Scholis Publicis Academiæ Cantabrigiensis … Ex ipsius manuscripto,' &c. 1643, 16mo; in English, 'The Position of John Preston … Concerning the Irresistiblenesse of Converting Grace,' &c. 1654, 4to.
- 'Riches of Mercy,' &c, 1658, 4to.
- 'Prayers,' &c., 24mo; this last is in the list of works prefixed to 'The Position.'
An 'Abridgment' of six of Preston's works by William Jemmat [q. v.] was published in 1648, 12mo. With his sermons are sometimes erroneously catalogued some funeral sermons (1615-19) by John Preston, vicar of East Ogwell, Devonshire.
