Conversion, Holy and Exemplary Lives, and Joyful Deaths

James Janeway (1636?–1674).
A Token for Children: Being an Exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and Exemplary Lives, and Joyful Deaths, of Several Young Children. In Two Parts.
London: Printed for T. Wiche, Bookseller to the Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor, 1797. (BRB0977)

First published in 1672, this exhortation to potentially “damned” children was popular for over a century in both the United Kingdom and America, with numerous editions printed on both sides of the Atlantic. The subject matter, focusing on pious children and their deaths at a young age, became the basis for numerous moral stories by other authors well into the nineteenth century. This 1797 printing in two parts includes thirteen stories of “exemplary lives and joyful deaths” for children to emulate. Each example is subdivided into sequentially numbered sections (generally consisting of a short paragraph) which may have assisted young readers in following the text.