This is Chapter 11 from the book Uncompromising Faith by Greg Gordon

Lessons Learned from the Life of Henry Alline

Convicting, challenging, stirring—these are just some of the adjectives that come to mind when one gives a brief look at the life of Alline. Sadly, many contemporary scholars and theologians in the Nova Scotia area have alluded to the probability of Alline’s mental derangement from being exposed to thoughts of hell too early in his life. Oh how utterly foolish the modern mind is in light of the truth of eternity and an eternal God. Alline knew more of God than most, if not all, modern preachers in Canada, and had a depth of awe and fear of his ways and judgment. We have much to learn from this apostle of the faith and also much to apply in our modern lives. May we humbly try to learn some lessons from this precious saint’s life.

Lesson 1: Burning out for God

This concept of expending energy for God to the place where one physically wears himself out is considered a foolish thing to modern believers. The same recklessness seen in pioneer missions to foreign countries also seems like a waste to the modern American mind. How could it be profitable for a missionary family to go to Africa when they will lose their children there within a few years and even themselves die? Yet this was the way for many of God’s chosen saints who suffered at great lengths to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. So what is the logic that they had, which gave them the desire to go and expend their physical lives prematurely for Christ? The answer is simply that they saw the great value of Jesus Christ and eternity, and the worth of expending all one’s life energies here in his service. These saints of old knew that life was short and passing, and they heeded the admonition of their Lord to store up treasures in heaven not in the earth. The concept of rewards in heaven is something evangelicals in our day know little or nothing about. The biblical fact is that the Lord will reward believers in eternity; this does not negate free grace in the blood of Christ. The importance of rewards in heaven is a large theme in the New Testament writings.

Here are some verses that will help you start to consider why Henry Alline willingly pushed himself to the place of exhaustion and death for the sake of Christ:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving (Col. 3:23–24).

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life (1 Tim. 6:18–19).

Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully (2 John 1:8).

Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done (Rev. 22:12).

Alline knew that he could not do anything to make himself more saved, for the righteousness of Christ was sufficient. But he did see that what he did on the earth now would matter greatly in heaven. What he sowed now he would reap later. He saw the great burden of his God for lost men and women and shared that passion. He willingly suffered now so he could be crowned later. Many of God’s choice servants suffered greatly in this life and even had early deaths. Was it a waste? No! Ten thousand times, No! They saw the reward. They saw the eternal weight of glory.

What of you, my friend? Are you going to play it safe your entire life? Seek comfort as a god? Or will you choose to suffer in some way, bear some inconveniences for the sake of the spread of the gospel in this generation?

Lesson 2: Having A Zeal for Spreading the Gospel

Henry Alline was no one special. He was a blood-bought servant of Jesus Christ who felt the great burden of his Lord for a lost and dying humanity. He labored where he saw the need, and it was all around him. Nova Scotia, Canada, became his mission field; the horse his means; and the gospel his message. He set out to evangelize every single individual in Nova Scotia, and that he did! He established over a hundred congregations and on horseback traveled to every single town and village to share the good news of Jesus Christ, the Savior from sin.

We can learn this wonderful lesson from Alline: that no cost is too great to share the gospel message with others. How can we who have received such a wondrous message of salvation keep it to ourselves? How can we who share in the very life of Jesus Christ and his peace not tell others of it who have no peace and are tormented in their dark hearts? Though we might not be called to evangelize every person in our state, each of us are called to be lights in the world for our Lord to others:

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:14).

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matt. 9:37–38).

Christian life can be confused with so many different ideas and concepts. But the one clear truth in the Word of God is that we are saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ and then must share this gospel with others. Our Lord himself gave every single disciple the command to share the gospel with the world:

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15).

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matt. 28:19–20).

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Alline heard the call from his master and was not disobedient. Will you hear the call and start to share the gospel in any way you can with others?

Lesson 3: An Eternal Hell is Real

Henry Alline believed in an eternal hell where those who did not have their sins washed by the blood of the Lamb would spend eternity in the wrath of the Lamb. He saw that God himself will judge and throw those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ into an eternal punishment. Oh, how serious it was to him as he preached before men and women, children and elderly. He saw their estate as apart from God and needing to be reconciled and born-again by the Spirit of God. He called for repentance and belief in the good news of Jesus Christ. Alline cries out: “O that all mankind would believe that they need to be redeemed.”

The belief in hell or its eternity is being questioned by modern minds. They are saying this is a cruel, archaic belief that made people scared of God and therefore subservient to the Roman Church. Though the message of hell was used by Catholics to at times scare common folk into their sacraments, this by no means negates its truth. Jesus Christ taught clearly on the truth that there is an eternal hell and made it very clear that it would be better for one to even lose limbs in this life, and then go to heaven, rather than to go to hell:

If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell (Matt 5:29).

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt. 10:28).

Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41).

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death (Rev. 21:8).

The modern gospel says that hell is not really that bad or perhaps even non-existent. But the true gospel says to flee from the wrath to come! Oh how we need to recapture the truth of an eternal hell; would that not change everything? Now you understand why Alline spent himself so readily in the service of his Lord. He saw the cliff of eternity and the masses rushing on without knowledge of what was ahead. Modern mankind is in a busy frenzy of doing everything but considering this truth. Hell is greedily yawning its mouth. May we see its horror and the enormity of our sins before a holy God. Turn and repent and look to the precious Son of God, Jesus Christ, to be saved. Time is fleeing.