Precious Promises

According to Dr Mark Dever, ‘This little booklet is a devotional classic.’ It contains a ‘gospel map’ that reveals the way to the ‘riches of the covenant.’ With great skill and an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Scripture, Joseph Alleine (c.1634–68) conveys the ‘exceeding great and precious promises’ of God, and sets them forth in such a way as to bring encouragement and delight to the Christian believer. He demonstrates how, by embracing these promises, the believer is enabled to overcome all the assaults of unbelief. ‘Faith,’ he says, ‘makes its claim to all the benefits of the covenant, and stirs up the soul to joy and thankfulness.’ It is little wonder to learn that Alleine’s treatment of God’s precious promises has proved an effective balm to countless weary souls for more than 300 years.

Joseph Alleine (1634-1668) was born at Devizes in Wiltshire and 'set forth in the Christian race' from the age of eleven. Educated at Oxford (Lincoln and Corpus Christi) from 1649 under men such as John Owen and Thomas Goodwin, he took his BA in 1651 and became a tutor and subsequently chaplain to the College. In 1655 Alleine accepted an invitation to become assistant to George Newton, vicar in Taunton, Somerset, and in the same year married his cousin, Theodosia. His ministry in Taunton was very fruitful until his ejection in 1662, but he continued to preach at every opportunity. His health was affected by the privations of two confinements in prison, and he died at the age of thirty-four.