_Again_, the scripture has assured us, _that man that is born of a woman, hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery_: Therefore man now is not the creature that he was by his creation. The first god-like nature of _Adam_, which was to have been immortally holy in union with God, is lost; and instead of it, a poor mortal of earthly flesh and blood, born like a wild ass’s colt, of a short life, and full of misery, is going thro’ a vain pilgrimage, to end in dust and ashes. Therefore, let every evil, whether inward or outward, teach you that man has lost his first life in God; and that no comfort, or deliverance is to be expected, but only in this one thing, that though man had lost his God, yet God is become man, that man may be again alive in God. Now here are two things raised up in man, instead of the _life of God: First, selfishness, brought_ forth by his chusing to have a wisdom of _his own_; contrary to the will and instruction of his Creator. _Secondly_, an earthly, bestial life, brought forth by his eating that food, which was poison to his paradisaical nature. Both these must therefore be removed; that is, a man must totally die to himself, and all earthly desires, views, and intentions, before he can be again in God. But now if this be an immutable truth, that man, so long as he is a _selfish earthly-minded_ creature, must be deprived of his true life, the life of God, in his soul; then how is the face of things changed! For then, what life is so much dreaded as a life of worldly ease and prosperity? What a curse is there in every thing that gratifies and nourishes our self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking? On the other hand, what happiness is there in all inward and outward troubles, when they force us to know the hell that is within us, and the vanity of every thing without us, when they turn all our self-love into self-abhorrence, and force us to call upon God to save us from ourselves, to give us a new life, and new spirit in _Christ Jesus_. “O happy famine,” might the poor prodigal have said, “which by reducing me to eat husks with swine, _brought me to myself_, and caused my return to my first happiness in my father’s house.” Now, I will suppose your state to be as you represent it; inwardly, heaviness and confusion of thoughts and passions; outwardly, ill usage from friends, relations, and all the world; with an inability to strike out the least spark of light or comfort, by any thought or reasoning of your own.