LION SERMON

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 39, 15 February 1930, Page 20

LION SERMON

Custom Of so© Years

In 1030, Sir John. Gayer, an English merchant and a member of the old Turkey and Levant Company, met with an exciting adventure while on a business trip to Arabia.1 ' . -.

One evening, while strolling boyond the. walls of the town where' ho had been transacting business, he canio suddenly face to face with a lion. Defenceless, he • fell .on his knees.-, and prayed for deliverance. ...

The animal approached-to within a few feet, then turned' and walked; away. . ■ ■-••■••■ ■■•'';■' On Ms ■ return to' London the worthy knight ga,ve all the profits of the-mer-chandise-he hiad sold in Arabia to-reli-gious and philanthropic causes, - and when he died, on 20th July, 1647, he left £50, in those days-a large sum of money," to St. Katharine Oree Chinch, in the City of Londbn, with a clause that a "lion sermon" should be preached every year on 16th Octo-, ber, tho anniversary of the day of his deliverance.

The sermon has been preached every year if, as has happened once or twice, not on 16th October, then as near the date as possible. Until a few years ago the Lord Mayor and Corporation of the city attended the service, but this practice has been discontinued. The service itself is not of outstanding interest. A lesson is read from the passage of the Bible which deals with Daniel's adventure in the• den of lions. The sermon tells, the story of the knightly merchant's encountor with the lion, with 'the customary clerical ramifications, and points to the obvious moral. :■•■"■' Although the service is held at midday, few people attend. Clerks and stenographers from neighbouring busi-1 ness houses do not forego'their lunches and flock to the church, although in days gone by, when the Lord Mayor attended, his ceremonious arrival doubt-j less attracted much interest. The congregation is composed mainly of caretakers from the big office buildings (about the only residents in the "City"), one or two big business men of the old-fashioned white moustached type, and some descendants of Sir John Gayer. The present churchy which was consecrated by Bishop Laud in 1630, is the successor of at least one earlier building, which stood at the edge of the burial ground" of the great priory of Holy Trinity or Christ Church, founded by Queea Matilda, wife of Henry 1., in 1108.

Hence, probably, the name St. Katharine Cree Church, formerly often written '' Cree Church ' otherwise Christ Church," and never, until quite modern times, abbreviated io Cree without "Church." ■ ".■■■■

The remains of Sir John Gayer rest beneath the altar, below a fine, stainedglass window, through which, in spite of London fog and grime, the bright morning sun still shines.