THE STORY Ob Till.. TOKK. Figs. i. 2. Cumberland Co., Pa., R. I., Reformed P terlan. 3,4, Conecocheagiie Church. 5, 6. New Lisbon, . . See DewivLimwr Plat shy-. Del. r Plates, .. i 74 - IBB STORY OF THE TOKEN A3 BELONGING TO THE Sacrament of the Lords Supper BY ROBERT SHIELLS, F. S. A, SCOT. SECOND EDITION Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. JOEL i 3. PHILADELPHIA THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK Copyright, 1902, by The Trustees of The Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work DEDICATION To all the friends, and they are many, on both sides of the sea, who have given me help and encouragement, my work is respectfully dedicated as a Token of appreciation and loving remembrance. No one is named, but each one may read his own name between the lines r as each one is duly remembered by His Grateful Friend, ROBERT SHIELLS. PREFACE I have no apology to make for the following pages. The story they tell will show how they came to be written. I hope the reader will find the narrative not so unimportant as it may appear at first sight. I have used my most diligent endeavor to collect all the information I could, concerning what has become to me an interesting study. I have striven to tell what I know about a practice that is fast becoming extinct, and to preserve its memory from the delenda est of the waters of Lethe. The Token was once a visible symbol of that which, like a master-key, opened the gates of salva tion to the faithful communicants of the Church. Time - honored as the custom was, it will soon be forgotten. I would fain hope that I have been able to add one stone, small as it may be, to its cairn of remembrance. It is with no affectation of humility I acknowledge that neither my reading nor my scholarship fits me to be an authority on this question. I shall be amply repaid for my labor if what I have written shall incite some qualified person to complete the story of the Token. vi PREFACE Besides being encouraged in my work by the love which I bear to the Church in which I was reared, I confess that I have also endeavored to realize that wish of which Burns speaks, and in which all his countrymen share That I, for poor auld Scotlands sake, Some usefu 1 plan or book could make. And now, without further preface, Behold how that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all them that seek wisdom and knowledge. Eccle siasticus xxiv 39, and xxxiii 16. And here will I make an end. If I have done well, and as the story required, it is the thing that I desired but if I have spoken slenderly and barely, I have dene that I could. II Maccabees xv 39. ROBERT SHIELLS. NEENAH, WISCONSIN, October 18, 1891. CONTENTS PAGE Dedication iii Preface v Introduction to Second Edition ix I, Authors Introduction g II. The Origin of the Token 26 III. Modern References to the Token 43 IV. English Token Usages 49 V. Substitutes for Tokens 57 VI. Migration of Tokens 62 VII. Antiquity of Tokens 78 VIII. Tokens in the Early Protestant Records 81 IX. Tokens in France 87 X. Tokens in Holland IO i XI. Tokens Used by the United Brethren... 108 XII. Early Use of Tokens in Scotland 114 XIII. General Use of Tokens in Scotland 124 XIV. Tokens as Connected with the Lords Supper I39 XV. Notices of Special Tokens 142 XVI. Tokens in the United States 160 XVII. Conclusion 170 For in herrubbish and her stones, Yea, they the very dust thereof Do favour for her sake. Psalm cii 14. Rouses Version. INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION The request to write an introduction to this book confers rather than solicits an honor. Robert Shiellss Story of the To ken needs no endorsement. The fact that its first edition has been exhausted, and that a second edition is called for, is sufficient proof of its value...