Precious Promises

by Joseph Alleine

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.

Genres: Christian

63 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1665

About the author

1634 - 1668

Reviews

[Parker James Lipetska · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short little book that takes you through the very precious promises of God. The writing style is interesting but every paragraph is embedded with scripture. This book affected me in much a different way than I thought it would. As the author listed promise after promise that the Lord has made to me, it made me think of what if God didn't act this way towards me or promise me this or that. As humans we are always prone to forget God's promises and this book is a great tool to see what a grace it is that we are the recipient of such great promises.

[Emily Gean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly no words can convey how good this book is. Rooted in scripture and describes the covenants that the Lord has given to us, showing how the world is deceitful, evil, and temporary, but following the Lord we gain access to a good, loving, and better than we could ever comprehend God.

Joseph Alleine Paints the picture of how our God is a personal God, better than any other thing and person we try to idolize.

“I dispense of my goodness, and fill my creature brimful, and running over, and yet have never the less in myself: and till this all-sufficiency be spent, you shall never be undone. I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, and whatever I was to them, I will be to you. Are you in want? You know where to go. I am ever at home; you shall not go away empty from my door… I will help when all else fails. When friends fail, and hearts fail; when your eye strings crack and your heartstrings crack; when your acquaintances leave you, and your souls leave you, my bosom shall be open to you.”

“Farewell, deceitful world, get yourself under my feet. Too long have I feared your vail threats; too long have I been deluded with your flattering promises. Can you promise me or deny me such things as God covenanted to give me? I know you cannot, and therefore I renounce you forever from being the object of my faith or fear.”

“I have chosen you, O Lord, as my happiness and inheritance, and therefore I am sure you have chosen me; for I could not have loved you, except you had loved me first. O my Lord, discern, I pray you, whose are these, the signer, the signet, the bracelets, and the staff.”

[James Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I'm allowed to dislike this book. I say that slightly tongue-in-cheek, but seriously! This book is almost entirely comprised of quotes/allusions to Scripture, so of course it's going to be encouraging and beautiful and oh so awe-inspiring! Written by a Puritan minister in Taunton back in the 17th century, this book has two main sections. The first (much longer) section is written as if from God's perspective, quoting and declaring the many promises of God we have throughout the Scriptures. Very handily, after many of these promises are the Scripture references that the author is pulling from (strangely, not all of the references are named - there are a few where I know the Scripture, but it was not named as such in text. Not sure the reason for that). I am oft reminded how good it is to ponder and meditate on the promises of God to us. We ought think on God's promises to us more than we do. And so this book is wonderfully helpful in reminding of all of the glorious promises God has made us! It's almost overwhelming to read what God has promised those who are His. I think overwhelming is the right word - should we not be awed at what our Lord has promised us? Oh how encouraged was my soul upon hearing promises I'd heard many times before. The second part of the book is the response of our soul to God. Again - mainly made up of direct quotes from Scripture. This section deals with our sometimes disbelief and doubt...but then turning us to the reasons we ought doubt not - the fact that our Lord has bought us and redeemed us and made us His own. This whole book (it is really more of a pamphlet I suppose - less than 60 pages!) is wonderfully encouraging. Yes, it's really just a bunch of Bible verses strung together. Yes, it's given to us in waterfall fashion - so much truth, without much contextual explanation or background. But...we could be doing far worse than to be reading and meditating on the promises of God to us His children. This book was a balm to my soul and a mighty aid to my poor weary heart. I shall read this again in times of need. Oh and one more thing. This book made me long to read more of the Word, as I gazed in thankfulness on the many promises our Lord has lavished upon us. I sometimes do doubt and tremble. But now I think on the wonders of my God and smile. I fly to Christ and His mercy - He is all my hope and stay!

[Aria Greendyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful short booklet, narrating many of God's promises to His children, and what our response should be. It has short, manageable sections, and is easy to read. My only complaint is that I would love to have a resource like this that is organized into sections that can be easily accessed when you're struggling with a particular doubt and need a specific promise in that moment.

[Garrison Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite.

[John Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A warm devotional that rebuked, exhorted, and encouraged my heart and set before me a good example of loving and God and his promises. It’s broken up into two parts: the riches of the covenant and triumphs of the covenant. The first part is written as if God is speaking directly to the reader about all the riches we have in him. I was amazed at the amount of a scripture the author had to have at his finger tips to write what he did. The second half is written from the perspective of the author. He speaks to his soul to exhort it and encourage it. The book is small devotional book that will encourage and exhort hearts.

[Brindha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a very short read, but I absolutely loved it. The format is so much different from the usual Puritan book, but the content helped me renew my faith and trust in the Lord in a very big way.

[Adam Baccam · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite reads of 2024. Short, simple, easy to read. It’s a booklet of scripture strung together with the promises of God to man. I would read a promise per day (they are a paragraph long each) and meditate on it along with my other reading. Super good for my soul. Highly recommend.

[Michael T Moos · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of some of the precious promises of Scripture.

[Rodrigo Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um clássico.