210 OUK HYMNS I
fifty-seventh year of his age. He was the author of some pub lished sermons and pamphlets, and of a few useful hymns.
��JAMES ALLEN.
17341804.
THIS preacher and poet, the son of Oswald Allen, was horn at Gayle, in "Wensleydale, Yorkshire, on the 24th of June, 1734. He was placed at first under the care of a clergyman to he trained for the Established Church ; hut as the conduct of that clergy man was not approved, he was removed, at the age of seventeen, to Scorton School, near Eichmond, Yorkshire. This school was under the charge of a respected clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Noble- During this period of schooling, James Allen often heard the preachers connected with Mr. Ingham, or Mr. Ingham himself, and became attached to them and their doctrines. Mr. Benjamin Ingham had left the Church of England in 1732, and had at first joined the Methodists. He accompanied the Wesleys to Georgia, and on his return joined the Moravian Brethren. He afterwards became one of Lady Huntingdon s preachers, and married Lady Mary Hastings, her daughter. In 1760, he came under the in fluence of the writings of Glas and Sandeman, and incorporated some of their views with his own. His followers were called Inghamites. They were Independents in Church discipline, hut insisted upon some minor peculiarities in doctrine and practice.
With Mr. Ingham, James Allen connected himself in 1752. He had previously spent a year at St. John s College, Cambridge. Mr. Allen soon became, like his leader, a zealous and useful itinerant preacher. It is recorded that on one occasion, being in danger from the mob at Kirkby-Lonsdale, he was delivered by the timely arrival of a magistrate who was an old college friend. In 1761, Mr. Allen went to Scotland, in company with the Messrs. Batty, to make inquiry concerning the character of the churches founded by Messrs. Glas and Sandeman. Impressed with what
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