“Conversion is a work above man’s power … Never think you can convert yourself. If ever you would be savingly converted, you must despair of doing it in your own strength. It is a resurrection from the dead, a new creation, a work of absolute omnipotence … Conversion is a supernatural work.”
— Joseph Alleine, An Alarm to Unconverted Sinners.
Joseph Alleine (1634-1668) was born at Devizes, Wiltshire, and from a young age, he was an exceptionally gifted student who was willing to serve the Lord. When he was around eleven years old, after the death of his brother, Edward, a clergyman, Alleine pleaded for an education so that he could replace his brother in the ministry of the church. At the age of sixteen, he proved his worth and went on to study at Oxford. While studying, he learned from the Puritans John Owen and Thomas Goodwin, who helped form much of his Puritan convictions. Studying during these times would not have been easy for a Puritan mind, because of the political climate of the day Charles I was beheaded and his son, Charles II, at the head of a Scottish army, was defeated by Cromwell’s Parliamentarians at Worcester.
Alleine graduated from Oxford in 1653 at nineteen with a B.A. and soon became a tutor and chaplain within Oxford. He was also a pastor to those in need as he intentionally took time to preach to prisoners in the county jail, visit the sick, and minister to the poor. Two years later, he accepted the role of an assistant to George Newton, the vicar of a church in Taunton, Somerset. This location was known as a “Puritan Stronghold” with about 20,000 people. That same year he married his cousin, Theodosia. Historians share that she was a woman who feared God, and early in their marriage, she ran a home school of about fifty scholars, with half needing food and lodging. She would later serve as her husband’s biographer after his death.
While in Taunton, his ministry was successful as he preached the Word faithfully, had deep relations with his flock, and even offered catechesis classes. Alleine was noticed by the Puritan Richard Baxter, who was impressed by his care for his congregants. However, in 1662, Alleine and many other Puritans were removed from their position because of the Act of Nonconformity. After being ejected from his church, he used this to bolster his preaching and averaged one to two sermons each day for nine months until he was arrested and put in jail. However, that still did not sway him from preaching, as his cell became a pulpit as he preached to the masses through the bars. His release in 1664 did not last long, and was arrested a second time for preaching on July 10, 1666. Upon his second release in 1668, he returned to Taunton where he started his ministry but became very ill because of the arrests, and ministering to his flock took its toll on his mind and body. Nine months later, at age thirty-four, Alleine died, and on his deathbed, he was praising God and saying, “Christ is mine, and I am His— His by covenant.”
Joseph Alleine’s life was short, but one that God used to show people (particularly ministers) the importance of staying faithful to the Gospel even in the face of adversity. Meanwhile, still have the heart to care for those we are close to.
If you want to learn more about Joseph Alleine, read his A Sure Guide to Heaven or also titled An Alarm to Unconverted Sinners. It will help most people with its clear and easy statements of sharing what the Christian Gospel message really is, even providing answers to questions that even a person of the twenty-first century would ask valuable questions as “Why is conversion necessary?” and “What are the motives to conversion?”