The Death of Christian Britain

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— Men in Discourse and Narrative 1800–1950 — Luther, Knox, Chalmers, Wycliffe, Cromwell, Wesley, and Christ, ‘the perfect man’. 29 The masculinity of soldiers and sailors was seen by evangelicals as the severest of tests. One woman who specialised in evangelising at Aldershot found soldiers were hindered in coming to Christ: ‘They tremble, but they do not decide; they come a certain length, but no farther.’ Religious meetings were well attended at the garrisons, but at after-meetings only small numbers fell under ‘great contrition’ and wept on account of their sins. Lack of emotionalism was a key stumbling block. But the two distinctive problems with soldiers was fear of ridicule and love of sin: ‘Many a man would rather encounter the enemy’s fire in open line, “than be laughed at in the barrack-room.” He would “die for the colours,” but he cannot live for Christ.’ This was intensely frustrating to the true evangelist. Tracts were taken and ridiculed in the barrack-room, and all the vices of the male world reigned: lust, the ‘fast life’, ‘sowing wild oats’, and above all drink. This gave rise to two big moral problems in the army: desertion and suicide, each the product of absence of true religion. Soldiers would not kneel for appearing foolish: ‘I’m quite converted, thank you,’ one soldier was quoted as saying, ‘but there’s no occasion to kneel down; I can praise the Lord in my heart.’ Pride would not take the soldier further, even on his deathbed. This type of converted soldier was reported as common, displaying an ‘outward reformation’ or a mere ‘turning over a new leaf’. The lady evangelist reported: ‘It goes by the name of “Ladies’ Religion”.’ 30 As a result, the way in which the strategy of feminising male piety was constructed in discourse to men was very important. To attract a man’s attention to feminine piety, the language of discourse had to be ‘manly’. This was evident in the masculinity in which the evangelical ‘spoke’ to his unreformed brothers in tracts. Religious tracts were particularly targeted at men, and adopted a virile, ‘fellow-sinner’ tone and a bold presentation. The voice of the tract was male, a man of the world who had known the sins of drink, the flesh and moral corruption, and was no wilting violet. This is especially true of the plain didactic tract, usually of one, two or four pages, which tended to be based on straight exhortation. These were characteristically on the themes of drinking, Sabbath profanation, swearing, prayer, and failure to come to a decision for Christ. Tracts were forthright and challenging, using large letters and block printing in forceful text. They presented opposites in clear form: Reader! – There are two ways of beginning the day:– with prayer or without it. You begin the day in one of these two ways. WHICH? There are two classes of people in the world: – the righteous and the wicked. You belong to one of these two classes. WHICH? There are two places to which people go:– Heaven and Hell. You will go to one of these two places. WHICH? 31 93
— The Death of Christian Britain — Short tracts were undemanding literature. They used simple metaphors of life to convey notions of bipolar opposites. In What is Lost by Strong Drink?, the losses were listed: LOSS OF MONEY, HEALTH, BUSINESS, CHARACTER, FRIENDS, GOOD CONSCIENCE, FEELING, MIND, LIFE, THE IMMORTAL SOUL. It is a long and terrible account to run up; but it is an easy one to begin, and I see even boys beginning it at the beer-shops – young men adding to it at the tavern and billiard saloon. Stop! . . . Can you afford them in the long run of eternity? 32 In The Spiritual Thermometer, all of life is reduced to a scale from ‘Glory’ to ‘Perdition’: GLORY Dismission from the body Desiring to depart and be with Christ . . . Following hard after God Deadness to the world . . . Looking for Christ. Justifying faith . . . Retirement for prayer and meditation Concern for the soul. Alarm. Conviction INDIFFERENCE Family worship only on Sabbath evenings . . . Family religion wholly declined Levity in conversation Fashions, however expensive, adopted . . . Free association with carnal company Love of novels and romances Theatre, Races, Balls &c. ... House of God forsaken . . . Fornication. Deistical company prized . . . Masquerades; Drunkenness; Adultery Profaneness; Lewd Songs; Infidelity Scoffing at religion. Persecuting the pious Disease and death PERDITION 33 Life was conceived as a dynamic progression between moral states, routed either towards heaven or to hell. Tracts dwelt on either/or moral qualities and choices, demanding decision. They called readers ‘sinners’. ‘You are a great sinner. You were born a sinner. Every day you have been thinking sin, speaking sin, doing sin. Have you not?’ 34 94
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The Death of Christian Britain PRA
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‘For anyone who is genuinely inte
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The Death of Christian Britain Und
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Contents List of illustrations ix
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illustrations FIGURES 7.1 Church o
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— Acknowledgements — University
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note on oral history The oral-hist
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Chapter one Introduction This book
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— Introduction — no new credo,
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— Introduction — in 1997 even p
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— Introduction — 365 in 1981 an
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— Introduction — Historians hav
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— Introduction — effect of this
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— Introduction — or a family, o
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— Introduction — in ways no lon
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— The Problem with ‘Religious D
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Chapter three The Salvation Economy
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— The Salvation Economy — It wa
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— The Salvation Economy — evang
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— The Salvation Economy — with
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Page 72 and 73: — The Salvation Economy — broug
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Page 132 and 133: Chapter six Personal Testimony and
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— Personal Testimony and Religion
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Chapter seven ‘Unimpeachable Witn
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— The Statistics of ‘Christian
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Percentage — The Statistics of
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100 90 80 70 60 50 40 Percentage Sc
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— The 1960s and Secularisation
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140 120 100 80 60 Percentage 40 20
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Chapter nine The End of a Long Stor
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— The End of a Long Story — the
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— The End of a Long Story — Can
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Chapter Ten Postscript: the mortali
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— Postscript — intellectual lev
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— Postscript — Each can overdo
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— Postscript — But Williams the
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— Postscript — aged by sociolog
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— Postscript — secularisation:
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— Postscript — Despite the reac
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— Postscript — very much restri
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— Postscript — Scotland’s ris
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— Postscript — But some Christi
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— Postscript — filed Protestant
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— Postscript — maturing of femi
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— Postscript — the oral contrac
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— Postscript — grammar school f
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— Postscript — Church confirmat
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— Postscript — and the churches
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— Postscript — an older concept
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— Postscript — Christianity has
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— Notes to pages 7-10 — 15 Stat
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— Notes to pages 17-21 — 4 E.J.
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— Notes to pages 26-28 — aglow
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— Notes to pages 35-41 — 3 THE
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— Notes to pages 48-54 — 41 Quo
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— Notes to pages 59-64 — 7 B.L.
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— Notes to pages 71-79 — D. Ski
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— Notes to pages 86-90 — 126 Ib
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— Notes to pages 96-100 — 47 R.
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— Notes to pages 104-112 — 98 C
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— Notes to pages 118-128 — 10 Q
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— Notes to pages 133-139 — 75 S
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— Notes to pages 144-149 — betw
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— Notes to pages 154-157 — vol.
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— Notes to pages 164-173 — 62 C
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— Notes to pages 176-185 — 32 M
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— Notes to pages 194-201 — 2 On
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— Notes to pages 205-209 — 29 S
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— Notes to pages 213-216 — 70 R
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— Notes to pages 220-224 — 104
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— Notes to pages 228-232 — 135
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— Sources — ---- , About My Fat
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— Sources — Reports to the Gene
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— Sources — Wilson, J.H., A Bri
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— Sources — ---- , ‘Popular c
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— Sources — Cressy, D., Birth,
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— Sources — ---- , ‘Seculariz
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— Sources — Layton-Henry, Z., T
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— Sources — Norman, E.R., Churc
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— Sources — ---- , Reconstructi
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— Sources — Chadwick, R.E., ‘
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Campbeltown 20-1 Camporesi, Piero 1
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Girl Guides 131 Girl’s Own Paper
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Plymouth Brethren see Brethren poet
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women: and evangelicalism 42; and f
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The Death of Christian Britain

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