A call to the unconverted, to turn and live

Is it not a strange thing which God doth seem here to suppose, that any man should be willing to die, and be damned, yea, that this should be the case of the wicked; that is, of the greatest part of the world? but you will say, this cannot be; 'for nature desireth the preservation and felicity of itself; and the wicked are more selfish than others, and not less, and therefore how can any man be willing to be damned?'

To which I answer, 1. It is a certain truth that no man can be willing of any evil as evil, but only as it hath some appearance of good; much less can any man be willing to be eternally tormented. Misery, as such, is desired by none. 2. But yet for all that, it is most true which God here teacheth us, that the cause why the wicked die and are damned, is because they will die and be damned. And this is true in several respects.

1. Because they will go the way that leads to hell; though they are told by God and man, whither it goes, and whither it ends, and though God hath so often professed in his word, that if they hold on in that way, they shall be condemned; and that they shall not be saved, unless they turn. Isa. xlviii. 22. and lvii. 21. There is no peace (saith the Lord) unto the wicked, Isa. lix. 8. The way of peace they know not; there is no judgment in their goings; they have made them crocked paths: Whosoever goeth therein shall not keep peace. They have the word, and the oath of the living God for it, that if they will not turn, they shall not enter into his rest. And yet wicked they are, and wicked they will be, let God and man say what they will; fleshy they are, and fleshy they will be: Worldlings ⟨p. 72⟩