ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CLVI.--_To_ PATRICK CARSEN.
[This was, perhaps, the son of John Carsen, formerly noticed. See
Letter CXXVII.]
(_EARLY DEVOTEDNESS TO CHRIST._)
DEAR AND LOVING FRIEND,--I cannot but, upon the opportunity of a
bearer, exhort you to resign the love of your youth to Christ; and in
this day, while your sun is high and your youth serveth you, to seek
the Lord and His face. For there is nothing out of heaven so necessary
for you as Christ. And ye cannot be ignorant but your day will end,
and the night of death shall call you from the pleasures of this life:
and a doom given out in death standeth for ever--as long as God
liveth! Youth, ordinarily, is a post and ready servant for Satan, to
run errands; for it is a nest for lust, cursing, drunkenness,
blaspheming of God, lying, pride, and vanity. Oh, that there were such
an heart in you as to fear the Lord, and to dedicate your soul and
body to His service! When the time cometh that your eye-strings shall
break, and your face wax pale, and legs and arms tremble, and your
breath shall grow cold, and your poor soul look out at your prison
house of clay, to be set at liberty; then a good conscience, and your
Lord's favour, shall be worth all the world's glory. Seek it as your
garland and crown.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,