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AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF
FRANK G. ALLEN,
Minister of the Gospel
AND
SELECTIONS FROM HIS WRITINGS
EDITED BY
ROBERT GRAHAM
_President of the College of the Bible, Lexington, Ky._
CINCINNATI
GUIDE PRINTING & PUBLISHING CO.
1887
Copyright, 1887, by
THE GUIDE PRINTING & PUBLISHING CO.
Dedication.
To all who love the Old Paths,
This Volume,
In Memory of One Who Found Them
And Walked Therein,
Is Respectfully Inscribed, by
The Editor.
PREFACE.
By prescription, which often has the force of law, a book should have
both a _Preface_ and an _Introduction_: the first relating to the
writer; the second to the things written. I may well dispense with the
latter, for what is here written the humblest capacity can understand;
and it would be cruel to detain him long on the porch who is anxious to
enter the building.
But, dear reader, a word with you (for that is the meaning of
"Preface") before you begin this unpretentious little book, the joint
production of an author, an editor, and a publisher.
It is due the first, to say that he wrote what is here called his
Autobiography in great physical weakness, and without expecting that it
would appear in this form. This will account for its homely garb, and
apologize for it, if apology be necessary. Frank Allen had no time to
spend upon mere style in anything he wrote. He aimed at clearness and
force of expression, and reached these in a remarkable degree in his
latter days. If any one, therefore, should take up this volume
expecting to find literary entertainment, he will have the search for
his pains; but if he seeks for what is far better, the secret of a life
devoted to God and goodness, told in plain, unvarnished English, he
will not be disappointed.
When I received from the gifted author the record of his "travel's
history," I intended to write his Life, but death came and found us,
not him, unprepared; and so, under the constraint of other and pressing
duties, my purpose was reluctantly abandoned. Besides, upon examination
it was found that with a few changes and additions here and there,
these memoranda, as they came from the hand of their author, could,
under the circumstances, appear in that form and do him no discredit.
Such is my admiration of this noble man, and such my deference to what
I am sure must be the desire of his friends, that I have preferred to
let _him_ tell in simple phrase the strange story of his struggles and
triumphs; and if its perusal should give the reader half the pleasure
it has been to me to prepare it for the press, I shall not have labored
in vain. The book is intended to be a _Memorial Volume_, and especially
one to encourage young men who, under adverse circumstances, are
striving to qualify themselves to preach the gospel. Bro. Allen was
always in warm and loving sympathy with these--so much so, that he was
rightly called the young preacher's friend.
It is a pleasure to say that such is the veneration of the publishers,
The Guide Printing and Publishing Company, for the memory of our
deceased brother, that but for them this tribute would hardly have
appeared. With a generosity as rare as it is praiseworthy, they have
undertaken to publish the work in the best style of their art, at a low
price, and without any pecuniary risk to Sister Allen; and, indeed, in
all their transactions with her they have given abundant proof that men
can carry into business the benevolent spirit of pure and undefiled
religion.
It only remains to be said that whatever profits arise from the sale of
this book go to the wife and children of its lamented author, and that
should sufficient encouragement be given, a companion volume containing
the letters and miscellaneous productions of Bro. Allen may in due time
be issued.
THE EDITOR.
LEXINGTON, Ky., May, 1887.
CONTENTS.
Page.
PART I.--AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER I.
Birth and Ancestors. Family Circumstances. "Fist and Skull"
Entertainment. Removal to Ohio and Return. Fight with his Mother.
Gets Lost. His Father Buys a Farm. The "Improvements." Plenty of
Hard Work. His Opinion of Work and of Play. 1
CHAPTER II.
His First School. The School-house. The Teacher. The Order of
Reciting. Spelling Matches. First Sweetheart. Extremes in Likes
and Dislikes. Fondness for Study. Improvement in Schools. 7
CHAPTER III.
His Religious Experience. Tries to be a Methodist. Hopes to Become
a Preacher. Boy Preaching. Attends a Sunday-school. "Chaws" Tobacco.
Goes to Love Feast. Mourners' Bench Experience. Is Puzzled and
Disgusted. 12
CHAPTER IV.
Fun and Mischief. His Little Cousin and the "Gnats." The Aurora
Borealis. A Bumble-bee Scrape. Another Bee Scrape. Justification by
Faith Alone. Readiness to Fight. Love of Justice. No Surrender. 17
CHAPTER V.
Given to Abstraction of Thought. Cases in Point. Opinion of
Debating Societies. Perseverance. Consumption. Endurance. More
Comfortable Home. Death of his Father. Love of Fashionable
Amusements. Meets his Future Wife. Is Married. Tribute to his
Wife. Her Father and Mother. 25
CHAPTER VI.
Goes to Housekeeping. Discussions with Mr. Maddox. Attends Meeting.
Is Baptized by William Tharp. Double Damages for an Old Horse.
Begins Trading. Moves to Floydsburg. Description of the Place. 31
CHAPTER VII.
Tries to Become a Politician. Fails. Last Act as a Politician.
Tries to Join the Southern Army. Fails Again. His First
Appointment. Feeling of Responsibility. His Plan. Text. Analysis
of Sermon. Buys a Family Bible. Rules of Life. 36
CHAPTER VIII.
Resolves to go to College. Friends Oppose. Wife Decides It. Hard
Living and Hard Work. Impaired Health. Preaches for his Home
Church. Father-in-law Dies. "Frank, Be a True Man." House Robbed.
"Scraps." College Incidents. First Pay for Preaching. Holds Several
Meetings. Dishonest Preacher. 43
CHAPTER IX.
Leaves College. Goes to Alexandria, Ky. An Adventure in Ohio. A
Baby _not_ Baptized. Peril in Crossing the River. Opens his School.
Makes Some Money. Buys a Nice Home. 52
CHAPTER X.
Narrow Escapes. Is Thrown from a Horse. Has Pneumonia. Nearly
Killed. Self-possession. Almost Drowned. Eludes Angry Soldiers.
Reflections. 58
CHAPTER XI.
He Abandons the School-room. Remarkable Meeting near Alexandria.
Incidents. Establishes a Church. Mischief-making Preachers.
Long and Severe Attack of Typhoid Fever. Does not Lose Hope.
Gratitude. 65
CHAPTER XII.
Sells out at Alexandria. Moves to Crittenden. Preaches there and at
Williamstown. Low State of these Churches. Plan of Work. Memorizing
in Sunday-school. Lack of Church Discipline. One-Man System. Moves
to New Liberty. Visits Mount Byrd 71
CHAPTER XIII.
History of the Mt. Byrd Church. When Established. Where. Charter
Members. Officers. Preachers. Number of Members. Three Things
Contributing to its Prosperity. New House of Worship. Serious
Trouble in the Church. How Settled. Method of Raising Money. The
Church Builds Allen a House. Organizes a Sunday-school. How it is
Conducted 77
CHAPTER XIV.
He Moves to Mt. Byrd. Debate with J. W. Fitch. Preaches at Madison,
Ind. Protracted meetings at Columbia, Burksville, Thompson's
Church, Dover, Germantown, Pleasant Hill, Burksville again, Beech
Grove, Dover again 88
CHAPTER XV.
Begins Preaching at Beech Grove. Debates with Elder Hiner. Amusing
Incident. Holds Many Meetings. Debates with Elder Frogge. Debates
again with Elder Hiner. Repudiates Miller's Book. Sick Again. Holds
more Meetings 96
CHAPTER XVI.
Continues to Evangelize. Dr. Cook's Prescription. Incident at
Glendale. Peculiar Feature in the Meeting at Madisonville. The
Fractious Preacher at Sonora. Closes his Evangelistic Labors.
Establishes the _Old Path Guide_. The Bruner Debate 101
CHAPTER XVII.
Visits Midway. Attends the Missouri State Convention. Reflections.
Annual Sermons. Last Protracted Meeting. Kindness of Mt. Byrd,
Glendale and Smithfield Churches. Gives up Office Work. Goes to
Eureka, Ill. Country Home. Takes Cold at the Lexington Convention.
Goes to Florida 107
CHAPTER XVIII.
Organizes a Church at DeLand. Health Improves. Relapses. Starts
Home. Resignation. Sells His Interest in the _Guide_. Begins
Writing again. Attends Two Conventions. Goes to Texas. At Home
again. Works on. 113
CHAPTER XIX.
Reflections on his Fiftieth Birthday. What a Wonderful Being is
Man! Governed, not by Instinct, but by Reason. Man Lives by Deeds,
not Years. How to Grow Old. Half of Life Spent in Satan's Service.
Renewed Consecration. Last Three Birthdays. His Trust in God. 118
CHAPTER XX.
Conclusion, by the Editor. Tokens of Love from Many. Keeps Writing.
Controversy with the _Standard_. Last Meeting with His Mother.
Visited by Professors McGarvey and Graham. Commits His Writings to
the Latter. Visits Eminence and Lexington. Many Brethren Come to
See Him. Meeting at Mt. Byrd. Estimate of His Character. The
Closing Scenes. Farewell to His Family. Dies. Funeral Services. 127
PART II.--ADDRESSES.
I.--Culture and Christianity: their Relation and Necessity. 137
II.--Self-culture. 159
III.--Plus Ultra _vs._ Ne Plus Ultra. 175
PART III.--SELECTIONS.
NEW TESTAMENT VIEWS OF CHRIST.
I.--Christ the Lamb of God. 190
II.--Christ the Bread of Life. 194
III.--Christ the Water of Life. 199
IV.--Christ the Son of God. 202
V.--Christ the Son of Man 212
VI.--Christ the Great Teacher 218
VII.--Christ the Deliverer 223
VIII.--Christ the Great Physician 230
IX.--Christ Our Mediator 236
X.--Christ Our Mediator (continued) 242
XI.--Christ Our High Priest 249
XII.--Christ Our Righteousness 254
PART I.--AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER I.
Birth and Ancestors. Family Circumstances. "Fist and Skull"
Entertainment. Removal to Ohio and Return. Fight with his Mother.
Gets Lost. His Father Buys a Farm. The "Improvements." Plenty of
Hard Work. His Opinion of Work and of Play.
I was born near La Grange, Oldham county, Ky., March 7, 1836. My
father, Francis Myers Allen, was born in Brown county, Ohio, December
7, 1807. He was the son of Thomas Allen, who, in 1812, when my father
was only five years old, moved from Brown county, O., to Shelby county,
Ky., and lived on Little Bullskin, a few miles west of Shelbyville.
My mother, Sarah A. Gibbs, was a daughter of James L. Gibbs and Mary
Ashby, and was born in Loudoun county, Va., April 6, 1808. The family
moved from Virginia to Kentucky in 1810, and lived in Shelbyville.
My grandparents on both sides reared large families of industrious,
thrifty children, and both grandfathers lived to be quite aged, my
mother's father living to be nearly one hundred years old.
My parents were married near Simpsonville, in Shelby county, April 9,
1829, and to them were born thirteen children--five boys and eight
girls--ten of whom lived to be grown. I was the fifth child--two boys
and two girls being older. The oldest child, a boy, died in infancy.
Being poor, both parents and children had to work hard and use strict
economy to make ends meet. We all knew much of the toils and hardships
of life, little of its luxuries. Both parents were blessed with good
constitutions, and had fine native intellects, but they were uneducated
save in the mere rudiments of the common school. They thought that "to
read, write and cipher" as far as the single rule of three, was all the
learning one needed for this life, unless he was going to teach. If my
father's mind had been trained, it would have been one of vast power.
He was philosophical, a good reasoner, and possessed of unusual
discrimination. He had also great coolness and self-possession in
emergencies.
In illustration of the latter statement, there recurs an incident in my
father's life that will bear recital. In those old-fashioned days of
"fist and skull" entertainments on public occasions, it was common for
each county to have its bully. Oldham at different times had
several--men of great muscular build and power, whose chief idea of
fame was that they could "whip anything in the county." My father was a
small man, weighing only one hundred and thirty pounds, and of a
peaceable disposition. Indeed, it was hard to provoke him to pugilistic
measures. But circumstances caused one of these bullies to force a
fight upon him at La Grange, in which the man was whipped so quickly
and so badly that no one knew how it was done. The man himself
accounted for it on the ground that "Mr. Allen came at me smiling."
This caused one or two others, at different times, to seek to
immortalize themselves by doing what the first had failed to
accomplish; but with the same result.
Being a farmer, my father was never without occupation, and he always
had plenty for his boys to do; hence I knew nothing but hard work on
the farm, except a few school days in winter, from the time I could
pull a weed out of a hill of corn till I reached my majority.
In the fall after I was born my parents moved from the farm near La
Grange to Brown county, O., not far from Hamersville. There they
remained a year; but my mother being much dissatisfied, they moved to
Floydsburg, Ky., and in the following spring, when I was two years old,
returned to the old place where I was born. Here the memories of life
begin. The incidents of daily life from this time forward are fresh in
my memory to-day. Here I had my first and last fight with my mother.
When I was three years old, my father, one day in June, was plowing
corn in a field not far from the house. When he went out, after noon, I
wanted to go with him. He took me behind him on the horse to the field.
When we got there I wanted to come back. He brought me back. I then
wanted to go to the field. He took me to the field. I then wanted to
come back. He brought me back. I then wanted to go to the field, but he
left me, telling my mother to take me in charge. Because she attempted
to control me I began fighting her. She whipped me with a small switch,
and I fought till I fell. Being completely exhausted, I begged my
oldest sister to fight for me, and when she refused and I had recovered
a little, I got up and went at it again. But when I fell the second
time, I lay till they took me and put me to bed, and there I remained
several days. Though I did not surrender, I never afterwards felt
disposed to renew the engagement. It was almost death to my mother, for
she did not chastise me in anger; her firmness, however, saved me.
In the spring of 1840 we moved to a farm some two miles south of La
Grange, on the road leading from that place to Ballardsville. Here we
lived one year. Only one event worth naming occurred while we lived
here. My mother took myself, an older sister, and a younger brother to
visit a sister she had living in La Grange. It was a beautiful summer
day, the roads were good, and we walked. My mother stopped at the house
of a neighbor on the road side for a few minutes, and told us to go on,
and be sure not to leave the road. With childish perversity we thought
the green fields better than the dusty road, and were soon into them.
It was not long till we were completely lost, and naturally wandered
the wrong way, not thinking to observe the sun and consider our course.
So, when we did not put in an appearance, the whole neighborhood was
aroused, and several hours of excitement followed before we were found.
My sister Bettie, two years my senior, was captain of this expedition.
In the spring of 1841 my father bought a farm of one hundred and twenty
acres, lying about three miles southwest from La Grange. Most of the
land was poor, and the "improvements" equally so. The house was a hewed
log cabin about 18×20 feet, with clap-board roof held down by weight
poles, and the walls "chinked" with mud. It had a large fire-place at
one end, and a chimney made of slats and mortar, familiarly known as a
"stick" chimney. The only window was paneless, with a solid shutter
hung on leather hinges, propped up with a stick, except when it was
wanted down. The floors above and below, were of broad lumber, and laid
loose. The door, when closed, was fastened with a big pin. A narrow
porch ran along the front, connecting with another at one end of the
house, between it and the kitchen. This was large and of the same style
of architecture as the house, but what that style was would puzzle any
one to tell. These two rooms and porches, with the smoke-house and
hen-house, constituted the "improvements" in that line. The
out-buildings were stables and a crib, of round logs. The fences were
all of rails, and inferior in kind. "Bars" and "slip-gaps" supplied the
place of gates in some places, and in others the fences had to be often
pulled down for lack of such conveniences. A fine spring gushed from
the foot of a hill, one hundred yards in front of this humble abode.
The location of dwellings, in that age and country, was determined
almost exclusively by springs. Every other consideration yielded to
this.
Here we took up our abode in a home of our own in the spring of 1841,
as above stated. The farm was afterwards enlarged by other purchases,
and the original still remains in the family. The poverty of the soil,
its tendency to produce briars, its large amount of heavy timber, with
the clearing necessary to be done, made it a place specially favorable
for the cultivation of industry. My father was one of those men who
never ran short of work; he always had plenty of it for himself and the
whole family. Recreation was almost unknown, and we had hardly rest
enough to secure good health. We were not of those who had to resort to
base-ball and foot-ball for exercise; it was ours to combine pleasure
with profit, only the profit was more than the pleasure. There is no
doubt that employment contributes to health of both body and mind. Good
blood, good thought and good morals are born of industry, provided it
be not pushed to the extreme of exhaustion. Children and young people
must have relaxation from toil, that both the physical and mental
powers may recuperate; but not much attention was paid to this
beneficent philosophy in my father's family. Had there been, it might
have been better for at least some of his children in after years.
There is a golden mean in this, as in other things, which parents
sometimes miss in their blind adhesion to a false theory. Rest and
labor are both appointments of God's benevolence.