I  have  a   round    dozen   of  Tokens  from
Ireland,    stretching    from    Larne    to    Tip-
perary.     The  Larne  Token  proudly  chron-
icles the  fact,  that  the
church  to  which  it  be-
longs   was   erected  in
1627.    I  have  130  from
Canada,  reaching  from
St.  John's,  Newfound-
land, to  the  Kildonan  Church,  at  Winnipeg.*
I  have  50    from  the  United  States,    ex-


*A  writer  in  Harper's  Magazine,  'March,  1SS6,
mentions  that  Communion  Tokens  are  still  used  in
Cape  Breton.
STORY  OF  THE  TOKEN.
141


tending  from  Vermont  to  Georgia.  Three
from  the  West  Indies,  two  from  New  Zea-
land, and  one  from  Australia,  swell  my
cabinet  to  upwards  of  800.
I  have  several  in  which  I  feel  a  per-
sonal concern.  I  have  one  from  the
church  round  which  lie  the  graves  of  my
grandparents,  my  father,  and  many  of  my
kindred.  I  have  one  from  the  church
which  I  attended  in  my  early  youth.  This
Token  bears  the  name
of  the  most  varied  and
comprehensive  author
that  ever  adorned  the
Secession  Church.*
I  have  one  from  the  church  of  which  I
first  became  a  member.  It  is  stamped
with  the  initials  of
the  great  historian  of
Knox  and  Melville. f
It  may  possibly  be  the

*  Rev.  James  Aitken  Wylie,  LL.  D.      His  name
is  misspelled  on  the  Token.
f  Rev.    Thomas    McCrie,    D.    D.,    LL.   D.
142


STORY  OF  THE  TOKEN.
very     Token    that    admitted    me    to    the
sealing  ordinance  of  the  Church.
I  have  a  rude  Token  marked  "  G.  K."
(Georgetown  Kirk)  that  may  have  per-
formed the  same  office
for  my  wife  in  her  lit-
tle backwoods  church.
More  than  3,000  miles
^^  apart  and  ignorant  of
each  other's  existence,
we  were  observing  the  same  ordinance  and
conforming  to  the  same  custom.
