Stories of Boys and Girls Who Loved the Saviour: A Token for Children

In Short

This volume is an anthology of biographical accounts detailing the spiritual lives and early deaths of exceptionally pious children. Compiled to serve as a moral and religious model for young readers, the book records the intense religious awakenings, private prayer habits, scriptural study, and terminal illnesses of several boys and girls. Each child demonstrates deep concern for their soul, exhorts family members to embrace faith, and faces physical suffering with extraordinary patience. The work has endured as a historical landmark of Protestant juvenile literature, offering a vivid window into seventeenth-century Puritan views on childhood, mortality, and personal salvation.

The Story

The book progresses through a series of biographical portraits, beginning with the story of Sarah Howley. At eight years old, Sarah attends a sermon that deeply awakens her to her spiritual condition. She spends her days in tearful private prayer, reads the Scriptures constantly, and gently instructs her younger siblings. At fourteen, she breaks a blood vessel in her lungs. As her illness worsens, she exhibits immense patience, exhorts visitors to redeem their precious time, and dies peacefully after experiencing a joyful assurance of Christ’s love.

Subsequent accounts follow a matching pattern of early conviction, rigorous devotion, and tranquil death. A young boy dedicated to God in infancy refuses to go to sleep without family prayer, secretes himself in corners to weep over his natural sinfulness, and prays so earnestly that his neighbors feel convicted by his fervor. Another young girl, orphaned of her father, comforts her weeping mother by reminding her that God remains good. She gathers neighborhood children to keep the Sabbath holy and later contracts the plague, using biblical arguments to console her family before she dies between eleven and twelve years old.

The narrative movingly recounts the life of Charles Bridgeman, who begins praying as soon as he learns to speak. He constantly asks deep theological questions about the nature of the soul and rebukes his brothers if they eat without asking a blessing. When a lingering disease strikes him, he rejects earthly inheritances in favor of the kingdom of heaven and welcomes death to be with his Saviour. In another account, a homeless, impoverished boy from Newington-Butts, initially caught in cursing and mischief, is taken in by a charitable benefactor. Through patient instruction, the boy undergoes an immediate transformation, weeping over his past life, praying for forgiveness, and anticipating his death on a Friday after experiencing a vision of angels.

Similarly, Jacob Bicks of Leyden falls ill at seven years old, bids farewell to his family, and willingly casts away his toys, dagger, and books because he is going where earthly items are unneeded. His sister Susannah likewise succumbs to the plague at fourteen, debating the divine origin of the pestilence with her parents and praising God’s will until her final breath. John Harvey, a merchant’s son who learns to read on his own before age three, speaks to his schoolmates about eternity and comforting his mother when the plague claims his sister. Soon after, John himself catches the disease, asking for religious texts on his deathbed. Later accounts, including those of Peter Melville and Elizabeth, depict children wrestling with fear and temptation before finding complete peace in Christ, finishing their short earthly journeys with triumphant declarations of faith.

How It Unfolds

Awakening and early piety A child hears a sermon, reads scripture, or receives pious instruction, becoming deeply sensible of their spiritual state. The child immediately adopts habits of frequent secret prayer, tearful repentance, and strict Sabbath observance, often urging siblings and parents to seek God.

Living as an example The young subject demonstrates remarkable meekness, honesty, and diligence at school and home. They regularly instruct playmates, rebuke bad behavior, ask serious questions about eternity, and show extraordinary love for ministers and faithful Christians.

The onset of illness Physical affliction, often consumption, lingering disease, or the devastating plague, strikes the child at a very young age. Rather than panicking, the child accepts the illness as God's will and turns their focus entirely to spiritual preparation.

Exhorting loved ones From their sickbed, the dying child speaks with profound wisdom, urging family, friends, and visitors to value their precious time and prepare for eternity. They minimize their physical agony and refuse earthly comforts or inheritances.

Triumphant passage After enduring severe pain or spiritual trials, the child receives a joyful assurance of salvation, often seeing visions of heaven or angels. They utter final words of prayer and peacefully commit their spirit into the hands of God.

The People

• Sarah Howley wants above all to secure an interest in Christ and escape eternal ruin; despite her fears and a fatal lung condition, she achieves full assurance of faith and dies triumphantly at age fourteen.
• Charles Bridgeman seeks spiritual knowledge and a home in heaven rather than worldly inheritances; despite his tender age and lingering sickness, he maintains strict devotion and dies eager to join his Saviour.
• The Poor Boy of Newington-Butts begins as a homeless child given to cursing and wickedness; transformed by his benefactor's instruction, he repents of his past life and dies peacefully after predicting the day angels will fetch him.
• Susannah Bicks wants to submit entirely to God's sovereign will while dying of the plague at age fourteen; she overcomes her physical weakness by quoting scriptures on faith and immortality to comfort her weeping parents.
• John Harvey desires to spend his life learning of Christ and warning others of nearness to eternity; when the plague strikes his home, he accepts the loss of his sister and faces his own death with cheerful resignation.
• Peter Melville wrestles with feelings of unworthiness and fear of Satan during a four-month illness; through pastoral counsel and scripture, he gains peace and dies declaring the unmatched glory of heaven.

In Its Own Voice

"O, to die without Christ is a fearful thing! O, redeem time! O, time, time, precious time!"

Sarah Howley utters these urgent words to a visiting kinsman on the Lord's day before her death, pleading with him to seek Christ while he is still young.

"Away then all that is in the world, away with all my pleasant things in the world; away with my dagger, for where I go there is nothing to do with daggers and swords..."

Seven-year-old Jacob Bicks bids farewell to his family and earthly possessions upon realizing his terminal illness will take him to God.

"If the Lord will but lend me the least finger of his hand to lead me through the dark entry of death, I will rejoice in him."

A young boy suffering from the plague comforts his father with these words shortly before his passing, expressing total reliance on God.

What It's Really About

At its core, the text is an intense theological exploration of early childhood mortality and personal salvation within the Seventeenth-Century Puritan tradition. It argues that children are fully capable of deep spiritual awareness, genuine repentance, and mature faith long before reaching adulthood. The book addresses profound questions regarding the brevity of human life, the nature of original sin, and the absolute necessity of personal redemption. By presenting these accounts, the text seeks to convince young readers that death can arrive at any moment, making immediate spiritual preparation paramount. It highlights the stark contrast between worldly vanity and eternal assurance, showing how unwavering faith can transform agonizing physical suffering into a serene, hopeful transition to the afterlife.

Why Read It Today

This work offers modern readers a rare, unfiltered historical document that captures seventeenth-century religious attitudes toward childhood, illness, and death. It will appeal to readers interested in religious history, historical theology, and the evolution of juvenile literature. The reading experience is intensely solemn and poignant; the plain, earnest prose presents a stark historical reality where epidemic diseases like the plague constantly threatened young lives.

Readers must approach the text mindful of its period context. The narratives contain repetitive structural patterns, formal theological phrasing, and an unrelenting focus on mortality and sin that modern audiences may find harsh or unsettling. The depictions of young children weeping over their natural depravity reflect the strict Calvinist doctrine of the era rather than contemporary views on childhood development. Nevertheless, what stays with the reader is the incredible resilience and composure displayed by these young figures in the face of death. Their articulate expressions of hope, unyielding patience during terminal illness, and quiet dignity make the book a remarkable artifact of historical faith and human endurance.