Hence the tables were fenced off, and each communicant
was obliged to present a "token." These tokens were similar to the
"Presbyterian checks;" they were little strips of lead or pewter stamped
with the initials "L. D.," which may have stood for "Londonderry" or
"Lord's Day." They were presented during the year by the deacons and elders
to worthy and pious church-members. This bi-annual celebration of the
Lord's Supper--this gathering of old friends and neighbors from the rocky
wilds of New Hampshire to join, in holy communion--was followed on Monday
by cheerful thanksgiving and social intercourse, in which, as in every
feast, our old friend, New England rum, played no unimportant part. The
three days previous to the communion Sabbath were, however, solemnly
devoted to the worship of God; a Londonderry man was reproved and
prosecuted for spreading grain upon a Thursday preceding a communion
Sunday, just as he would have been for doing similar work upon the Sabbath.
The use of these "tokens" in the Londonderry church continued until the
year 1830.
In the coin collection of the American Antiquarian Society are little
pewter communion-checks, or tokens, stamped with a heart. These were used
in the Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, and were delivered to pious
church-members at the Friday evening prayer-meeting preceding the communion
Sabbath.
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