ALLEIN

ALLEIN, JOSEPH, the son of Tobias Allein, was born in the Devizes, in Wiltshire, in 1633, and educated at Oxford. In 1655, he became assistant to Mr Newton, in Taunton Magdalen, in Somersetshire; but was deprived for nonconformity. He died in 1668, aged 35. He was a man of great learning, and greater charity; preserving, though a nonconformist, and a severe sufferer on that account, great respect for the church, and loyalty to his sovereign. He wrote several books of piety, which are highly esteemed; but his Alarm to unconverted sinners is more famous than the rest. There have been many editions of this little pious work, the sale of which has been very great; of the edition 1672, there were 20,000 sold; of that of 1675, with this title, A sure guide to heaven, 50,000. There was also a large impression of it with its first title, in 1720.