# Alleine's directions to sinners



## jambo (Jun 2, 2009)

Adapted from Alleine's "Alarm to the Unconverted", chapter 6: directions to the unconverted. I had great difficulty knowing what to leave out but it gives a flavour of Alleine's evangelistic thrust and the whole chapter (indeed the whole book) is well worth a read.

Hear, then, O sinner, and as ever you would be converted and saved, take the following counsel. 

*1. Set it down with yourself as an undoubted truth, that it is impossible for you ever to get to heaven in this your unconverted state.*
-Can any other but Christ save you?
-Does He not keep the keys of heaven, and can you go in without His permission?

*2. Labour to get a thorough sight and lively sense and feeling of your sins*.
Until men are weary and heavy laden, and pricked at the heart, and quite sick of sin, they will not come to Christ for cure, nor sincerely enquire, 'What shall we do?' [Acts 2:37] They must see themselves as dead men, before they will come unto Christ that they may live. 
*Meditate on the NUMBER of your sins. *
-Oh how great is the sum of your debts, who has been all your life running into debt, and never did or can pay off one penny! 
-Do not be like a desperate bankrupt who is afraid to look over his books. Read the records of conscience carefully. These books must be opened sooner or later.
*Meditate upon the AGGRAVATIONS of your sins,* 
Sin is the traitor that thirsted for the blood of the Son of God, that sold Him, that mocked Him, that scourged Him, that spat in His face, that tore His hands, that pierced His side, that pressed His soul, that mangled His body, that never left Him until he had bound Him, condemned Him, nailed Him, crucified Him, and put Him to an open shame! Sin is that deadly poison, so powerful of operation that one drop of it, shed on the root of mankind, has corrupted, spoiled, poisoned, and ruined the whole race. Sin is the bloody executioner that has killed the prophets, burned the martyrs, murdered all the apostles, all the patriarchs, all the kings and potentates. Sin has destroyed cities, swallowed empires, and devoured whole nations. Whatever weapon it was done by, it was sin that caused the execution. Do you yet think sin only a small thing? 
*Meditate on the DESERT of sin. *
-Its due wages are death and damnation; it brings the curse of God upon the soul and body. -The least sinful word or thought lays you under the infinite wrath of God. O what a load of wrath, what a weight of curses, what treasures of vengeance, have all the millions of your sins deserved! 
*Meditate on the deformity and DEFILEMENT of sin.* 
It is black hell, There is no mire so unclean, no plague or leprosy so detestable as sin, in which you are plunged and rendered more displeasing to the pure and holy nature of the glorious God than the vilest object can be to you....But you are as contrary to the pure and perfect holiness of the divine nature, until you are purified by the blood of Jesus and the power of renewing grace.
Above all other sins, consider these two.
*[1] The sin of your heart.* It is to little purpose to lop off the branches while the root of corruption remains untouched. In vain do men stop up the streams, when the fountain is running which fills up all again. Let the axe of your repentance, with David's go to the root of sin. 
*
[2] The particular evil that you are most addicted to. *

*3. Strive to affect your heart with a deep sense of your present misery.*
Suppose you saw a condemned wretch hanging over Nebuchadnezzar's burning fiery furnace by nothing but a thread which was ready to break every moment, would not your heart tremble for such a one? You are the man! This is your very case, O man, woman, who reads this, if you are yet unconverted. What if the thread of your life should break—and you know not but it may be the next night, yes, the next moment—where would you be then? Where would you drop? Truly, upon the breaking of this thread, you would fall into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, where you must lie while God has a being

*4. Settle it in your heart that you must look outside of yourself and away from your own doings for help.*
Do not think your praying, reading, hearing, confessing or amending, will effect the cure. These must be attended to—but you are undone if you rest in them. You are a lost man if you hope to escape drowning on any other plank but Jesus Christ! 
*
5. Henceforth renounce all your sins.*
If you yield yourself to the practice of any sin, you are undone. In vain do you hope for life by Christ, except you depart from iniquity. Forsake your sins—or you cannot find mercy. You cannot be married to Christ except you be divorced from sin. Give up the traitor—or you can have no peace with heaven. Keep not Delilah in your lap. You must part with your sins—or with your soul: 

*6. Make a solemn choice of God for your portion and blessedness*.
Let others possess the preferments and glory of the world; but you must place your happiness in the favour of God, and in the light of His countenance.
*[1] In all His personal relations. *God the FATHER must be taken for your Father. O come to Him with the prodigal: 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, and am not worthy to be called your son' God the SON must be taken for your Saviour, your Redeemer, and your Righteousness. He must be accepted, as the only way to the Father, and the only means of life. O then put off the raiment of your captivity, put on the wedding garment, and go and marry yourself to Christ. Lastly, God the SPIRIT must be taken for your Sanctifier, for your Advocate, your Counselor, your Comforter, the Teacher of your ignorance, the Pledge of your inheritance. 
*[2] In all His essential perfections.* Consider how the Lord has revealed Himself to you in His Word. Will you take Him as such a God?
Will you have the merciful, the gracious, the sin-pardoning God to be your God? '
-'I am the holy and sin-hating God; if you will be owned as one of My people, you must be holy—holy in heart, holy in life. You must put away all your iniquities, be they ever so dear, ever so natural, ever so necessary to the maintaining of your worldly interest. Unless you will be at enmity with sin, I cannot be your God. 
-'I am the all-sufficient God. Will you lay all at My feet, give up all to My disposal, and take Me for your only portion? Will you own and honour my all-sufficiency? Will you take Me as your happiness and treasure, your hope and bliss? I am a sun and a shield all in one; will you have Me for your all?' 
-'I am the sovereign Lord; if you will have Me for your God you must give Me the supremacy. You must not make Me second to sin or any worldly interest. If you will be My people I must have the rule over you; you must not live at your pleasure. Will you come under My yoke? Will you bow to My government? Will you submit to My discipline, to My Word, to My rod?' 
-'I am the true and faithful God. If you will have Me for your God you must be content to trust Me. Will you venture yourselves upon My Word, and depend on My faithfulness, and take My bond for your security? Will you be content to follow Me in poverty, and reproach, and affliction here; and to tarry until the next world for your preferment? Will you be content to labour and suffer, and to tarry for your returns until the resurrection of the just? My promise will not always be instantly fulfilled; will you have the patience to wait?' 

*7. Accept the Lord Jesus in all His offices as yours. *
-Upon these terms Christ may be had. Sinner, you have undone yourself, and are plunged into the ditch of most deplorable misery, out of which you are never able to escape; but Jesus Christ is able and ready to help you, and He freely offers Himself to you. 
-Accept an offered Christ now, and you are made forever. Give your consent to Him now, and the match is made; all the world cannot hinder it. Do not stand off because of your unworthiness. 

*8. Resign all your powers and faculties, and your whole interest to be His. *
Your _judgment_ says, 'Lord, You are worthy of all acceptance, 
The _understanding_ lays aside its corrupt reasonings and cavils, and its prejudices against Christ and His ways.... and determines for Christ against all the world. 
The _will _resigns. It stands no longer wavering—but is peremptorily determined: 
The _memory_ gives up to Christ: 'Lord, here is a storehouse for You: out with the trash: lay in the treasures. Let me be a repository of Your truth, Your promises, Your providences.' 
The _conscience_ comes in: 'Lord, I will ever side with You: I will be Your faithful registrar. I will warn when the sinner is tempted, and smite when You are offended. I will witness for You, and judge for You, and guide into Your ways, and will never let sin have quiet in this soul.' The affections also come to Christ: 'O,' says Love, 'I am sick for You.' 
'O,' says _Desire_, 'now I have what I sought for. Here is the Desire of nations; here is bread for me, and balm for me: all that I want.' 
Fear bows the knee with awe and veneration: 'Welcome, Lord, to You will I pay my homage. Your Word and rod shall command my actions; You will I reverence and adore; before You will I fall down and worship.' 
_Grief _likewise puts in: 'Lord, Your displeasure and Your dishonour, Your people's calamities and my own iniquities, shall be what shall set me a-weeping. I will mourn when You are offended; I will weep when Your cause is wounded.' 
_Anger_ likewise comes in for Christ: 'Lord, nothing so enrages me as my folly against You, that I should be so besotted as to hearken to the flatteries of sin and the temptations of Satan against You.' 
_Hatred,_ too, will side with Christ: 'I protest mortal enmity to Your enemies, that I will never be a friend to Your foes. I vow an eternal quarrel with every sin. I will give no quarter, I will make no peace.' Thus let all your powers yield to Jesus Christ.
*
9. Choose the laws of Christ as the rule of your words, thoughts and actions.*
1. You must choose them all, there is no getting to heaven by a partial obedience. It is not enough to take up the cheap and easy part of religion, and let alone the duties that are costly and self-denying, and oppose the interests of the flesh; you must take all or none. 
2. You must choose Christ's laws for all times, for prosperity and adversity. A true convert is resolved in his course; he will stand to his choice, and will not set his back to the wind, and be of the religion of the times. 
3. This must be done deliberately and understandingly. The disobedient son said, 'I go, sir,' but he went not

*10. Let all this be completed in a solemn covenant between God and your soul.

11. Take heed of delaying your conversion—but make a speedy, an immediate surrender of your heart to God.*
Now mercy is wooing you; now Christ is waiting to be gracious to you, and the Spirit of God is striving with you. Now ministers are calling; now conscience is stirring; now the market is open, and oil may be had, you have opportunity for the buying. Now Christ is to be had for the taking. Oh! strike in with the offers of grace. Oh! now—or never. If you make light of this offer, God may swear in His wrath that you shall never taste of His supper (Luke 14:24).

*12. Attend conscientiously upon the Word, as the means appointed for your conversion.

13. Strike in with the Spirit when He begins to work upon your heart.

14. Set upon the constant and diligent use of serious and fervent prayer.*
He who neglects prayer is a profane and unsanctified sinner. He who is not constant in prayer is a hypocrite, unless the omission be contrary to his ordinary course, under the force of some instant temptation. One of the first things conversion appears in, is that it sets men a-praying. Therefore set to this duty. Let not one day pass in which you have not, morning and evening, 

- But cold and lifeless devotions will not reach halfway to heaven. Be fervent and importunate. Importunity will carry it; without violence the kingdom of heaven will not be taken. You must strive to enter, and wrestle with tears and supplications as Jacob, if you would gain the blessing. 

*15. Forsake your evil company, and forbear the occasions of sin.

16. Set apart a day to humble your soul in secret by fasting and prayer, to work a sense of your sins and miseries upon your heart.*


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