The more we deny ourselves, the freer we shall be from sin and the more dear to God. God appoints us to sufferings, that we may keep close to Him, and that we may value the sufferings of His Son, which we should have but a low notion of, did not our own experience teach us what it is to suffer. Had there been any better, any easier way to heaven, Jesus Christ would have chosen it for Himself and for His followers. Take up the Cross. This is designed as a peculiar favour to Christians, as indeed are all Christ's commands.
Miseries are the unavoidable portion of fallen man.
To follow our own will, our passions, and our senses, is that which makes us miserable. No pleasure can be innocent which hinders us from minding our salvation. We need but taste any pleasure a very little while, to become a slave to it. The only way to overcome our corrupt affections, is absolutely to deny their cravings. We have reason to suspect every doctrine which would teach us to avoid Sill without suffering, since the Holy Scriptures speak so much of self-denial, of the difficulty of working out our salvation.