Paul’s Cross

Abstract

This chapter examines Paul’s Cross, the pulpit located in the north-east quadrant of the churchyard, and its material properties and uses, focusing on sermons, the importance of preaching in early modern London, and the sensory spatial practices of sermon attendance at Paul’s. Sermons preached at Paul’s that critiqued and sought to reform the members of the auditory for their primary sin of pride in apparel are analysed. The spotlight on sartorial vanity derives from both a general preoccupation in early modern texts with that particular ‘vice’ and the sense that Paul’s precinct was a common place where it was put on stage. The chapter discusses the jeremiads preached at Paul’s as texts that were significantly influenced by secular literature, including Philip Stubbes’s Anatomie of Abuses as well as verse satire and Thomas Nashe’s Christ’s Teares over Jerusalem, and emphasizes the importance of the site in relation to the message.