Communion Tokens

DimensionsOverall: 2 cm

Credit LineTransfer from the London and Middlesex Historical Society, 1958

Object number1958.001.023

Label TextAn important feature of the old-time Communion service was the use of the "Token." The "Token" was a small piece of metal [or paper], square, oblong, oval, or circular in shape, sometimes very rudely made by a local smith or other, beautifully made with dies highly ornamented, a piece of fine workmanship, bearing the initial or name of minister or congregation, a date commemorative of some event in the history of the church, and with the reverse side often blank or bearing a text such as "Do this in remembrance of Me," or "Let a man examine himself." Each branch of the much divided Presbyterian Church springing from the Church of Scotland, had its own distinctive type of "token" greatly helping in the identification and understanding of these now long forgotten symbols... In the Presbyterian Church we need not go back farther than the Reformation in Scotland and especially the times of persecution [to trace the history of tokens]. In such a time the "token" was a means of distinguishing a friend from a foe, and later a means of distinguishing a communicant from a non-communicant. Through Scotland and Ireland, by the missionaries sent out to Canada, it was introduced into this new land and offers an opportunity for indulgence in a very engrossing study...(p. 5) About 1850 commercial houses dealing in communion supplies began to issue in any quantity desired a "stock token." There are some fourteen distinct varieties...These often were introduced to supplement the older named and initialled token. In time these gave place to the "Card" token. Many of the earlier Free Churches in Canada - for example Woodstock and Woodville, C.W. - used a card upon which the minister had written "Free Church Token," Reverse, "This do in remembrance of Me." Many of the Presbyterians, as well as U.P. & C.P. congregations, early used a printed card - for example, Cornwallis and Horton, N.S., the 1st Presbyterian Church, London, C.W....(p. 7) From: "The Story of the Old Time Communion Service and Worship: Also the Metallic Communion Token of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, 1772" (Classic Reprint) by George a MacLennan, 1924.

NameToken, Communion