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An Alarm to the Unconverted
The fire of God was in the bones of young Joseph Alleine. His preaching and his prayers dripped with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. ''O Lord,'' he prayed, ''choose my words; choose my weapons for me; and when I put my hand into the bag and take out a stone and sling, do Thou carry it to the mark and make it stick, not into the forehead, but into the heart of the unconverted sinner, and smite him to the ground as You did to Saul of Tarsus.'' Alleine's words in this book mirror his message to the unconverted. Chapter 1 shows what Conversion is, what it is not. Chapter 2 opens up the necessity of conversion. Chapter 3 exposes the marks of the unconverted. Chapter 4 proves the misery of the unconverted. Chapter 5 describes the means of conversion. Chapter 6 then closes with the motives of conversion. All of these explain why this book is named An Alarm to the Unconverted. Sinners who have read, and who now will read, this classic of classics have squirmed, excused, pleaded falsely, yet have been unable to escape the message straight from ''Study your own hearts. Do not rest till God has made thorough work with you. For you must be other men, or else you are lost men''( p. 8) Tens of thousands, yea more, have accredited this book with having opened their eyes to their unconverted state. Among these, perhaps even half of these, were church members sailing under Christ's colors. These fervent words have burned their way into the hearts of both the small and the great. George Whitefield told how it affected him. C. H. Spurgeon ''when brought under conviction'' turned to this book. Like Pilgrim's Progress, this book has been through hundreds of printings. Many of these have been private printings of ten thousand or more copies. Why is this? It speaks the message of God so plainly that it brings conviction such as attended the apostle Peter's preaching when he cried out, ''Therefore, repent and be converted, unto the blotting out of your sins,'' and thousands of so
126 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1850
58 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 16, 2024
I will be rereading this book throughout the year!
Excellent!
Excellent!
February 13, 2024
Very good book. Very evangelistic, something often missing in today’s culture and today’s church.
April 4, 2018
Someone told me that I should read some of the classics of Christan Literature. I thought, OK, let's give it a try. Over a year ago I decided to search online for classic Christian Literature and came up with a site called 'Classics On The Wing' (http://www.onthewing.org/Classics.html). I grabbed the first one on the list (at that time) and started to read the book.
I do not often give a book less than 3 starts. I can always learn something and nobody is that bad a writer that they do not deserve less than three stars. However, this is one of those cases. If you follow me on Goodreads you will see that I started this book over a year ago. At about the 1 year anniversary I decided that I needed to find a way to finish it as it sat for the longest time at 50%. Though no one can find Mark Twain ever saying it, a quote that is credited to him was something I had to do to finish this book: "Eat a Live Frog Every Morning, and Nothing Worse Will Happen to You the Rest of the Day". Who ever said it, never read this book. I basically had to force myself to read 5% every day so that I could finish the book.
I am sure that it is the time that this was written but the author has a one track mind. You are a sinner, you are going to hell, repent and show that you are Christian by your acts. Chapter one told us this in about 30 ways. Chapter two was more of the same. I remember reading this and thinking I did not know there was that many ways to be told I was going to hell. I am not discounting the message, but if I was a non-Christian reading this book, I would not have been influenced by it in the least. If you tell me 100 times I am a sinner in the tones that this author used, well, I most likely would have told you that you will see me there as well.
I had someone say, 'well that is just the way that Puritan authors were. That may be so. He wrote the book in 1652.
I cannot recommend this book to anyone of today's times. It is a heavy theological subject or how depraved we are as sinners, but does not offer help to those who would be converted, just more condemnation.
I do not often give a book less than 3 starts. I can always learn something and nobody is that bad a writer that they do not deserve less than three stars. However, this is one of those cases. If you follow me on Goodreads you will see that I started this book over a year ago. At about the 1 year anniversary I decided that I needed to find a way to finish it as it sat for the longest time at 50%. Though no one can find Mark Twain ever saying it, a quote that is credited to him was something I had to do to finish this book: "Eat a Live Frog Every Morning, and Nothing Worse Will Happen to You the Rest of the Day". Who ever said it, never read this book. I basically had to force myself to read 5% every day so that I could finish the book.
I am sure that it is the time that this was written but the author has a one track mind. You are a sinner, you are going to hell, repent and show that you are Christian by your acts. Chapter one told us this in about 30 ways. Chapter two was more of the same. I remember reading this and thinking I did not know there was that many ways to be told I was going to hell. I am not discounting the message, but if I was a non-Christian reading this book, I would not have been influenced by it in the least. If you tell me 100 times I am a sinner in the tones that this author used, well, I most likely would have told you that you will see me there as well.
I had someone say, 'well that is just the way that Puritan authors were. That may be so. He wrote the book in 1652.
I cannot recommend this book to anyone of today's times. It is a heavy theological subject or how depraved we are as sinners, but does not offer help to those who would be converted, just more condemnation.
August 7, 2017
A good book for any Christian to read.
September 24, 2021
Blood earnest and timeless.
October 4, 2021
I know I say this all the time, but I wish everyone would read this book! This has a way forward from where I'm at. It shows me where I am outside of Christ, what it takes to be born again, and offers tons of fuel to motivate an earnest pursuit of saving faith.
I don't know if I'll ever stop reading it!
It's from a Puritan named Joseph Alleine, and its original long title was "A sure guide to heaven, or, An earnest invitation to sinners to turn to God in order to their eternal salvation shewing the thoughtful sinner what he must do to be saved" but most often it's called "Alarm to the Unconverted" or simply "The Alarm." It plows the soil of a rocky heart to earnestly fear, weep, and desire God. The author died when he was 34 (in prison for preaching outside the Anglican church) and the book wasn't published until a few years later, but even when he was 21 they said he was “infinitely and insatiably greedy for the conversion of souls, and to this end he poured out his very heart in prayer and preaching.” Spurgeon's mother used to read it to him frequently as a child in order to seek his conversion. There's plenty of free copies on PDF out there, like redemptivehistory.org/sureguide.pdf and there's a good free audio version on Sermon Index.
I don't know if I'll ever stop reading it!
It's from a Puritan named Joseph Alleine, and its original long title was "A sure guide to heaven, or, An earnest invitation to sinners to turn to God in order to their eternal salvation shewing the thoughtful sinner what he must do to be saved" but most often it's called "Alarm to the Unconverted" or simply "The Alarm." It plows the soil of a rocky heart to earnestly fear, weep, and desire God. The author died when he was 34 (in prison for preaching outside the Anglican church) and the book wasn't published until a few years later, but even when he was 21 they said he was “infinitely and insatiably greedy for the conversion of souls, and to this end he poured out his very heart in prayer and preaching.” Spurgeon's mother used to read it to him frequently as a child in order to seek his conversion. There's plenty of free copies on PDF out there, like redemptivehistory.org/sureguide.pdf and there's a good free audio version on Sermon Index.
December 7, 2021
Eye-Opening and Stunning!
As I sat here stunned as I read the last paragraph of this book. You don’t hear preaching like this anymore. We may not have heard preaching like this for centuries. It is riveting. This book will shake the most sincere believer to his or her core. This book is anointed. I got chills at times. It will drive you to your knees in repentance. I had purchased the Kindle version but I was so taken by it that I ordered the hard copy also so I could pass it down to others. I immediately plan to read this book again and again to get its message deep inside me. In a day of a gospel with no substance and mostly fluff, this is real meat indeed.
As I sat here stunned as I read the last paragraph of this book. You don’t hear preaching like this anymore. We may not have heard preaching like this for centuries. It is riveting. This book will shake the most sincere believer to his or her core. This book is anointed. I got chills at times. It will drive you to your knees in repentance. I had purchased the Kindle version but I was so taken by it that I ordered the hard copy also so I could pass it down to others. I immediately plan to read this book again and again to get its message deep inside me. In a day of a gospel with no substance and mostly fluff, this is real meat indeed.
March 10, 2025
This little gem of a book is designed as an invitation for sinners to turn to God. It does so in a systematic way. It describes what conversion is, why it is necessary, the characteristics or marks of the unconverted, the miseries of unconversion, directions to salvation, a wonderful section on the motives for salvation, and s beautiful conclusion. Both the last two chapters are turned into a loving pleading for sinners to turn to Christ. I'm sure someone could update this book for modern times, but other than John MacArthur, I'm not sure who could pull it off with such humility and sincerity as has Joseph Alliene.
May 30, 2025
Definitely a blunt and fiery book, which leaves most of the more encouraging and hopeful words toward the end, but it is great for those looking to be convicted.
Content is surrounding conversion, so a lot of it is exposing what a true conversion looks like, calling out double mindedness.
Quote to get the vibe of the book “You must part with your sins or with your soul”.
(A Christian if not careful could come out inclined toward a works salvation mindset, tho that’s not the authors belief, so I’d say the book is near an 9/10).
The soliloquy near the end is fantastic.
Content is surrounding conversion, so a lot of it is exposing what a true conversion looks like, calling out double mindedness.
Quote to get the vibe of the book “You must part with your sins or with your soul”.
(A Christian if not careful could come out inclined toward a works salvation mindset, tho that’s not the authors belief, so I’d say the book is near an 9/10).
The soliloquy near the end is fantastic.
November 12, 2024
Essentially a 117 page Gospel tract. I read it aloud to my children and it was convicting. Although Alleine (who lived hundreds of years ago) was a Clavinist, at times he speaks as if he was not so if I could, I'd dock half a star 😉 but no, it's a great book for new believers, those receptive to the Gospel message, and those wanting to learn to share the Gospel with others.
July 12, 2020
Powerful and convicting. In eloquent, Puritan fashion, Alliene exposits the purifying effects of Christ’s blood and pleads with professing Christians to cleanse themselves of unrighteousness, lest we unknowingly remain slaves to our sin and one day near the Lord say “I never knew you, depart from me.” (Matthew 7:23)
August 9, 2018
This really is quite the alarm for the unconverted. But for the new creature in Christ this is a glorious reminded of the grace we have been given and the wrath that we have been saved from.
January 21, 2021
A short Puritan work worthy of your time. Very good gospel preaching!
May 30, 2021
Convicting, sobering, Christ exalting.
June 10, 2016
Puritan devotional literature is something of an acquired taste and really ought to carry some sort of health warning. Most of it is not recommended for non-Christians, or indeed for many modern Christians come to that.
Yet for those who are secure in their own faith and have a reasonably good knowledge of Scripture, theology, history, and literature, the best of it can, if read with discrimination, yield rich rewards.
It is very challenging. Alleine is clear that Christianity means total submission to God – which means total rejection of the world and its values.
Most challenging of all is his emphasis on sanctification, meaning personal holiness – yes, actual holiness. It is at this point that the sincere Christian, all too well aware of his own failings, gives up in despair. How can anyone ever reconcile a sense of their own holiness with the humility that comes with acknowledgement of one's sins? How did Alleine? Did he consider himself a holy man?
In the absence of a clear answer, one cannot help but think of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
Indeed, for all their many undoubted virtues, the odour of Pharisaism hangs heavy around the 17th Century Puritans. Like the Pharisees, the Puritans cannot be faulted for their knowledge of Scripture, but, like the Pharisees, they often seem to have missed the point. The smug satisfaction and hypocrisy that comes with the assumption that one is holier than everyone else is precisely what Jesus condemned most savagely.
The Puritans' love of Scripture was as much Old Testament as New, perhaps more so, with the mercy and humility of the Gospels not emphasised as much as they ought to be.
This becomes clear in Alleine's notions of what constitutes sanctification. To him it is a sign of sanctification that the sincere Christian should positively love long sermons – so anyone who does not must, in Alleine's view, be bound for Hell. Meanwhile, Alleine simply takes it for granted that the sanctified Christian can simply drop all the sins with which most of us struggle on a daily basis. If Alleine himself was actually able to do this, and was able to live the perfectly virtuous life he describes, that is very impressive and all credit to him ...but one begs leave to doubt whether there has been a Christian like that on Earth since the Ascension.
So, while Alleine and the Puritans have much to teach the 21st Century Church about total submission to God and total rejection of the world, modern Christianity may be closer to Jesus in its emphasis on awareness of one's own imperfection leading to greater tolerance of others.
Yet for those who are secure in their own faith and have a reasonably good knowledge of Scripture, theology, history, and literature, the best of it can, if read with discrimination, yield rich rewards.
It is very challenging. Alleine is clear that Christianity means total submission to God – which means total rejection of the world and its values.
Most challenging of all is his emphasis on sanctification, meaning personal holiness – yes, actual holiness. It is at this point that the sincere Christian, all too well aware of his own failings, gives up in despair. How can anyone ever reconcile a sense of their own holiness with the humility that comes with acknowledgement of one's sins? How did Alleine? Did he consider himself a holy man?
In the absence of a clear answer, one cannot help but think of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
Indeed, for all their many undoubted virtues, the odour of Pharisaism hangs heavy around the 17th Century Puritans. Like the Pharisees, the Puritans cannot be faulted for their knowledge of Scripture, but, like the Pharisees, they often seem to have missed the point. The smug satisfaction and hypocrisy that comes with the assumption that one is holier than everyone else is precisely what Jesus condemned most savagely.
The Puritans' love of Scripture was as much Old Testament as New, perhaps more so, with the mercy and humility of the Gospels not emphasised as much as they ought to be.
This becomes clear in Alleine's notions of what constitutes sanctification. To him it is a sign of sanctification that the sincere Christian should positively love long sermons – so anyone who does not must, in Alleine's view, be bound for Hell. Meanwhile, Alleine simply takes it for granted that the sanctified Christian can simply drop all the sins with which most of us struggle on a daily basis. If Alleine himself was actually able to do this, and was able to live the perfectly virtuous life he describes, that is very impressive and all credit to him ...but one begs leave to doubt whether there has been a Christian like that on Earth since the Ascension.
So, while Alleine and the Puritans have much to teach the 21st Century Church about total submission to God and total rejection of the world, modern Christianity may be closer to Jesus in its emphasis on awareness of one's own imperfection leading to greater tolerance of others.
September 19, 2020
This was one the most stressful and difficult works I have had to read in my entire life.
April 6, 2009
Very good.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews