# Token for mourners, or, A sure guide to heaven and preparation for your latter-end

A Token for Mourners,
OR,
A Sure Guide to Heaven.
WITH
PREPARATIONS
For Your Latter End.
Alſo fome Holy Reſolutions in Preparing for Eternity.
Newly publiſhed to the Glory of GOD, and Benefit of the Poor.
Written by ROBERT ROSS, and Set forth for the Good of all Christian Families,
OB Chap. XIX ver. 25. 26, O'. For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he ſhall ſtand at the Latter-day on the Earth. And though after my skin, Worms deſtroy this Body, yet it my Fleſh ſhall I ſee GOD. Whom I ſhall ſee for myſelf, and mine Eyes ſhall behold, and not another.
Printed in Swan-Cloſe, for the AUTHOR, 1746.
A COPT of Choice VERSES.
COnfider Reader as you look, How ſuddenly the Soul was took; Pray take Warning by her Fall, And be ready at CHRIST's Call. Death little Warning to me gave, But quickly ſent me to my Grave, O haſte to CHRIST, make no delay, For no one knows his dying Day, Death doth not always Warning give, Therefore be careful how you live; Learn to die, for die you muſt, And die to live amongſt the Juſt, When ſickneſs comes, the night you think it long. From watch to watch, the morning cometh on Before night come make uſe of precious light Before Death enter with his ghoſtly Sight. Repent in Time your Lives amend, Death will come your Lives to end, See that you all Times prepared be, That ſudden Death ſurprize not thee. Adorn your Souls with Grace, prize Wiſdom Than all the Pearls on the Indian Shore; Think not to live ſtill free from grief & ſorrow more The Man that lives to-day may die to-morrow ​O cruel Death that did no Warning give, To take my Husband, and leave me to grieve I hope, in Time, my Tears I ſhall reſrain, To think with Joy, that we ſhall meet again. Therefore your precious Time miſpent Each precious Day your Life eſteem, Improve your Talent with due Care, redeem, For the Great Day your ſelf prepare. GOD teach to live, that you may dread, The Grave as little as your Bed; To die, that your vile Bodies may Riſe glorious at the laſt Day. O may you always ready ſtand, With your Lamps burning in your Hand; May you in Sight of Heav'n rejoice, Whene'er you hear the Bridegroom's Voice.
EVery Day, ſpend fome Thoughts of Eternity, the Thoughts of Eternity ſhould make you very ſerious about your Souls: Let us in Time remember Eternity. Let us every Minute we have to live, ſo live as if we lived in everlaſting Torments. O Man! Whoever thou art, think upon theſe things; but thou eſpecially, who findeſt thyſelſ guilty of any grievous Sin, repent and amend: Remember Eternity, and think upon the Day of Death; it is uncertain, in what Place Death will meet thee, do thou therefore expect Death in every Place, as the Lord ſhall find ​find thee, when he calls for thee; tho' thou loſeſt every Thing elſe in the World, yet, O Man! have a Care to keep thy Soul, be willing to part with All for Chriſt, to lay down your Life for Chrift, to loſe All, to ſave your Soul, and gain Eternity. Many of you riſe up early, and go late to Bed at Night, and eateth bread of Sorrow all the Day, and loadeth yourſelves with thick Clay; and I am ſure that ſuch Perſons, being Night and Day taken up with the World, are not prepared for Death; I remember a Word recorded of a wicked Man, who was exceeding rich; ſaid he. I would give ſo many Thouſands of Pounds, if Death would but give me one Day longer, yet he got it not; and how ſuddenly may Death furprize any of you, as it did him, therefore prepare for Death An admireable young Child of about fire Years of Age, ſaid to his Mother, when his Father was dead, the being often grieved for the Loſs of her Husband, Grieve not Mother, tho my Father is dead, yet God is alive, and from that Day, to the Day of her Death, ſhe never grieved any more. My Advice and Counfel to Young Perfons is this. That you will pray to God, and God will hear you; For I love them that love me, and they that ſeek me early ſhall find me; if you have Regard to your own eternal Happineſs, it ought to be your chiefeſt ​chiefeſt Care to ſerve and glorifie God; it was for this End, that God both made and redeemed you; do but conſider, how welcome a young Perfon is to God, it was to young Samuel that God revealed himſelf, and that, at ſuch a Time when the Word of God was precious and very rare, and you know, that St. John the youngest of all the Diſciples, was the only perſon of all the Twelve who was ſuffered to lean on our Saviour's Boſom. Pray, think if you can, how unconceivable a Joy it will be to you, when, in your elder Years, you can think of your Youth; how great a Conſolation will it be to you on your Death-bed, how eaſie will it render your Acounts at the great Day of Judgment? And how much a whole Life ſpent in God's Service, will increaſe your Glory in Heaven? I can but Counſel you, and I ſhould; therefore be wiſe in Time, that you may not be miſerable to All Eternity, pray unto the Lord, and he will anſwer: I will guide you coutinually, and ſatisfy your Souls, and make for your Bones, and you fall be like a water'd Garden, and God will make the Habitation of your Righteouſneſs proſperous; if ye know theſe Things, happy are ye if ye do them; and the Glory of the Lord ſhall be your Reward. I would (under God) be a Means to help you to find your Feet, and walk in the Ways of God's Cammandments, ​ments, and run the Race that is ſet before you.
The whole Deſign and Aim of this Difcourſe is, to warm the Heart and enrich the Conſcience, and direct the Life, to teach Men how to live and to die, and how to attain a blesful Life after Death.
REmember that many go to Bed and never riſe again, 'till they are awakened by the fearful Sound of the laſt Trumpet; but he that ſleepeth and awaketh with Prayer, ſleepeth and awaketh with Chriſt: You know not what Hour Chriſt may come and call you out of the World; be ye therefore always ready, for Heaven is always ready to receive you. What happens to any Man may happen to every Man, every Man being furrounded with the fame Meaſures of Mortality; 'tis true indeed you may live, till you are old, but it's as true, that you may die while you are young. O Death! (faith the Son of a gracious Woman) acceptable is thy Sentence to the Needy, and to him that is vexed with all Things; the Troubles of Life hath made the bitter in Soul to long for Death, to rejice exceedingly when they have fouud the Grave. Conſider your Bodies, from whence they came, and conſider your Souls, whether they are going. Dare you enter into your Beds and ſleep fecurely any one Night, ​Night; not thinking how you may awake whether in Heaven or in Heil?
Do all you can for God, and God will be with you. Belold I am with thee, ſaid he to Jacob, and I will keep thee whether thou goeſt; for I will not Leave thee until I have done that which I have ſpoken to thee of.
Therefore pray to God, and turn from your wicked Ways, then he will forgive your Sins, and heal your Land. Do you think with yourſelves, what a ſad Thing it is to mils of Chriſt. Certainly that Man's or Woman's Condition muſt needs be ſad indeed, that lives and dies without Jesus Chrift.
Now if it ſeems Evil to any of you to pray to God, chuſe you this Day whom you will ſerve. As for me and my Houſe, we will ſerve the Lord. So he made a Covenant with the People that Day, and all the People ſaid unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we ſerve, and his Voice will we obey.
Pray unto God that this may be in you, that at the great Day, when you and I ſhall appear before God, that we may be all able to ſay, Here am I, and the Children which that thou haſt given me.
A PRAYER.
O My Soul, wait thow fill upon my GOD for my Hope is in him, he is my Strength and ​my Salvation; he is my defence, fo that ſhall not fail. O Lord God be merciful unto every one that prepares his whole Heart to ſeek thee, 0 Lord God, the God of his Fathers, tho' he be not according to the Purification of the Sanctuary. O Lord, I walk in the midſt of Trouble: I beſeech thee refreſh me: Stretch forth thy Hand upon the Fury and Cunning of mine Enemies, that thy RightHand may fave me. 0 make good, thy loving Kndneſs towards me, and deſpiſe not, l beſeech thee, the Works of thine own Hands. Amen.
And now to conclude, Let us all therefore ſo live, and ſo ſpend our fhort Time here on Earth, that ſo in the glorious Morning of the Reſurrection, when the laſt Trumpet Sounds, we may riſe to the Reſurrection of Life and Triumph, and Rejoice among glorious Angels, to all Eternity, which the Lord of his Mercy grant. Amen.
FINIS.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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