Allen, Henry
founder of a sect, was born June 14, 1748, in Newport, R. I. In 1774 and succeeding years he made many converts in Nova Scotia to his peculiar mystical religious ideas. He believed that human souls are emanations from a single great spirit, and that the Bible is to be interpreted not literally, but in a spiritual sense. He published a book of hymns and several treatises and sermons. The Allenites became numerous under his eloquent preaching, but declined after his death. He died Feb. 2, 1784, in Northampton, N. H.