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Richard Alleine, the author, uses the term precise in a manner different from much modern use. In this text, a precise Christian, or Precisian, is one who strives to carefully heed all of the Holy Bible and obey it.3 Please notice that a Precisian “strives”; he or she is not yet perfected in this life, but is growing in grace and putting sin to death. Alleine contrasts Precisians with those who live more loosely, who are willingly, knowingly, and unrepentantly disobedient in one or more areas of their lives, however much they may be obedient in other areas. Due to the importance of this theme in Vindiciae, the editor has chosen not to attempt to translate these words into more modern terms. Precisians have historically been identified as the Puritans, and certainly the early Puritans endured the kinds of reproaches and persecutions that Alleine describes; this is a major reason many Puritans fled to America. Yet, other groups also strove to live precisely and endured the same treatment, and it is clear that Alleine did not limit the Precisians to any single group of people.
Words or phrases in brackets [] are synonyms, short definitions of the word just preceding the brackets, or words inserted for clarity. Footnotes give longer definitions or explanations.
Scripture quotations by Richard Alleine are not consistently traceable to any English version known to the editor; this editor believes that many of these are paraphrases from memory, a belief consistent with the rest of the text of the book. Many are also fragments of verses, combinations of verses, or embedded in the author’s prose. This way of handling Scripture, stringing beads, has historical precedent, and may be seen throughout the New Testament. In such cases, the editor has supplied his own translation with as light a hand as possible, with reference to other English, Greek, or Hebrew texts as needed. Where such text, with reasonable accuracy, comprises one or more verses, or at least a substantial portion of a verse, the text is enclosed in quotation marks and includes a reference in parentheses. A reference in parentheses by itself and without quotation marks merely directs the reader to that passage without implying a substantially accurate quotation or even any quotation at all.
Alleine’s audience would have been much more familiar with the Holy Bible than most modern readers. In light of this, the editor has chosen both to include additional Scripture references in parentheses that were not found in Alleine’s text and to expand some of Alleine’s Scripture quotations so as to give full verses or clarify the reference or context.
Along these lines, it is possible that some readers may be entirely unfamiliar, or at least very unfamiliar, with Christianity or the Holy Bible. While some such readers may well profit from Vindiciae, a better course of action might possibly be as follows:
Obtain a Holy Bible. The English Standard Version is a good first choice. It is also online at https://www.biblegateway.com.
Read the Gospel of John in the Holy Bible.
Read Appendix A of this book.
Read one or more of the following books, all of which are available from major online book vendors:
David McKay, The Bond of Love4
Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Christian Life5
Edward Donnelly, Biblical Teaching on the Doctrines of Heaven and Hell6
Read the Westminster Standards, at least the Westminster Shorter Catechism and Westminster Confession of Faith. Modern translations by this editor are available at https://www.beforgiven.info/HostedLiterature.htm (case-sensitive URL). If you use these translations, please be sure to read the hyperlinked Scripture passages!
Return to this book and read with profit. Be sure to read each Scripture reference in your Bible if it is not quoted herein!
Vindiciae includes a comprehensive table of contents that doubles as an outline of the book; the outline follows Alleine’s original to the extent discernible.7 In light of this, at each heading or subheading in the work, an abbreviated portion of the table of contents is given to show the reader where he or she is on his or her journey through the book.
Bon Voyage!
3In technical use, precision refers to the fineness of a measurement, and accuracy to how well the measurement reflects the thing being measured. For example, an inexpensive mechanical scale may only have lines every pound, while a digital scale may read out tenths of a pound. The digital scale reads out more finely, and is thus more precise. Accuracy, on the other hand, refers to how closely the scale measures the actual weight. A precise digital scale that is off by five pounds is still precise because of the fineness of the readout, but not accurate. But in the context of this book, a precise Christian is one who strives to walk both accurately and precisely according to God’s Holy Bible.
4David McKay, The Bond of Love (Fearn, Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2001). ISBN: 1 85792 641 2.
5Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Christian Life (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2017). ISBN-13: 978 1 84871 259 1.
6Edward Donnelly, Biblical Teaching on the Doctrines of Heaven and Hell (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009). ISBN-13: 978 0 85151 811 4.
7The original numbering scheme is inconsistent, as are Alleine’s outline and section markers; for this reason, the editor has chosen to use different fonts and styles for different levels without numbering items. Also, there are times when the editor has silently inserted introductory text from Alleine’s outline to the beginning of a section to help the reader connect sections and follow Alleine’s outline.
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