Four O'Clock in the Morning

Taking a break from my Romans commentaries last night, I decided to open another Puritan paperback by a man named Joseph Alleine, called 'A Sure Guide to Heaven'. I never heard of this guy until recently, but the subject matter of this work interested me and so I made the purchase.

The back of the book says, ‘When the spiritual history of the Western world in the 20th century is written, it may well be seen as the epoch of spiritual sloth and slumber’. The purpose of the book is to alarm and awaken people to the concerns of life and death.

The introduction tells us that Joseph Alleine lived in the mid-1600’s and was very protective of his study time. If his friends interrupted him, he would say ‘it is better that they should wonder at my rudeness than that I should lose my time; for only a few will take notice of my rudeness, but many may feel my loss of time’. For someone who took great pains to evangelize the lost, study time was essential.

Alleine certainly knew how to redeem the time. He made it a regular habit to wake up every day at 4:00am. He spent the next FOUR HOURS in prayer, contemplation, and singing psalms. Is it any wonder he was effective in ministry?

I barely made it out of the introduction and was convicted about my own slothfulness. I love my morning sleep. Apparently much more than some quiet study in the Scriptures.

Mark