LION SERMON.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20959, 24 February 1930, Page 6

LION SERMON.

CUSTOM OF 200 YEARS. In 1630, 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. One evening, while strolling beyond the walls of the town where he had been transacting business, he came suddenly |®ce to face with a lion. Defenceless, he fell on his knees and prayed tor deliverance. The animal approached to within a few feet, then turned and walked away. On his return to London the worthy Kn'ght, gave all the profits of the merchandise he had sold in Arabia to religious, and philanthropic causes, and when he died, on July 20, 16.47, he left £SO, in those days a large sum of money, to St Katharine Cree Church, in the city of London, with a clause that a “lion sermon should be preached every year on October 16, the anniversary of the day of lua deliverance. . ' G . f sermon has been preached every year if, as has happened once or twice, not on October 16, then as near the date r s e ‘ Until.a few years ago the Lord Mayor and Corporation of the eiiv attended the service, but this practice has been discontinued. . The service itsi If is not 6f outstanding interest, Alesson * s 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 encounter with the lion, with the customary clerical ramifications, and Points to the obvious moral. Although the service is held at middny, few people attend. Clerks and steno-' graphers from neighbouring business houses do not forego their lunches and flock to the church, although in days gone by, when the Lord Mayor attended, his ceremonious arrival doubtless attracted much interest. The congregation is composed mainlv of caretakers from’ the big office building (about the only residents in the ‘‘city ”). one or two big business men of the oidtashioned white moustached type, and some descendants of Sir John Gayer ihe present church, 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 Trinitv S? Christ Church, founded by Queen Matilda, wife of Henry I, in 1108, Hence, probably, the name St. Kath anne Cree Church, formerly often written Ch-ee Church otherwise Christ Church," and never, until quite modern times, abbreviated to 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.