Communion Tokens. o7 



no ear to hear, but that eye which sees m secret, and that ear 

 which is the hearer of prayer, seeking for tlie inward token, the 

 seal of the Spirit, pleading that the Master Himself would say 

 to His guests at His table, ' Eat, O friends, drink, yea drink 

 abundantly, O beloved.' " The foregoing quotation is taken 

 from a "Historical Sketch of the R.P. Congregation of Dum- 

 fries," a paper read by a highly re.spected office-bearer at the 

 annual soiree of that congregation, held on 23rd February, 1864, 

 in the Mechanics' Hall, Dumfries. 



To Mr Robert Shiells, Neenah, Wisconsin, belongs the 

 honour of having first told "The Story of the Token." All 

 subsequent workers in the same field ha\'e but built on his founda- 

 tions. By his monumental work, entitled " Old Scottish Com- 

 munion Plate," the Rev. Dr Thomas Burns has made students 

 of token-craft his debtors. His wide search into Burgh and 

 Session Records, with its resultant multitude of extracts, will be 

 the quarry from which future writers must draw much of their 

 material. The late Mr A. J. S. Brook has provided the ground- 

 work for the ultimate comprehensive catalogue of Tokens of the 

 Established Church of Scotland. His pages of illustrations are 

 the most valuable guide to these the collector jjossesses. What 

 Mr Brook did for the tokens of the Established Church the Rev. 

 Robert Dick, Colinsburgh, had done for the tokens of Churches 

 other than the Established. To collectors, "Brook" and 

 * Dick " are .simply indispensable. Ere long, it is hoped, these 

 will be revised, corrected, and amplified. The present work 

 originated in an attempt to provide as complete a catalogue as 

 possible of all the tokens used in the Churches within the area 

 of a single shire. Fulfilment of this primary intention will be 

 found in Chapter V. As the work proceeded the scope widened 

 and the material accumulated to such an extent that it seemed 

 desirable to add a few extra chapters. These, it is hoped, may 

 do a little towards explaining what to many people seems an 

 unaccountable modern craze. In the hands of some more ad- 

 vanced collector these chapters would certainly have obtained an 

 ampler justice. But many years must pass and much more work 

 of research be done ere a labour of this kind can, if ever, escape 

 the charge of incompleteness. Such as it is the work has had a 

 host of creditors but for whose assistance it would have been im- 

 possible. Unfailinglv courteous and kind were the Ministers and 



