Benjamin Keach
Benjamin Keach | |
---|---|
Born | Buckinghamshire, England | 29 February 1640
Died | 18 July 1704 London, England | (aged 64)
Nationality | English |
Occupation | Preacher |
Spouses |
Jane Grove
(m. 1660; died 1670)Susanna Partridge
(m. 1672–1704) |
Children |
|
Benjamin Keach (29 February 1640 – 18 July 1704) was an English
Biography
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Keach was born on 29 February 1640 to John and Fedora Keeche at
In 1668, Keach moved to London, taking the position of minister of the church at
As a representative of the Horsleydown church, Keach attended the 1689 General Assembly that endorsed the
Keach wrote 43 works, of which his Parables and Metaphors of Scripture may be the best known. His catechism The Child's Instructor, as noted, was the ground of his arrest and imprisonment in 1664. He is also attributed with the writing of a catechism commonly known as Keach's Catechism, although its authorship is now disputed, and it was likely authored at least in part by William Collins.[5]
On the pillory at Aylesbury Mr. Keach defended himself and the truth with great boldness. The jailer frequently interrupted him. and finally the sheriff himself threatened to have him gagged. The people, contrary to custom, had no words of mockery for the good, persecuted minister, and no offensive missile was hurled at him. An Episcopal minister who ventured to assail Mr. Keach in the pillory was immediately reproached by the people with the ungodliness of his own life, and his voice was drowned in laughter. At Winslow, where he lived, he suffered the same shameful penalty, and a copy of his little book was burned.
Keach is also known to have promoted the introduction of
Keach's
Personal life
Keach was twice married. In May 1660, he married Jane Grove of Winslow in the town of Southwark.[1] Keach and his first wife had four daughters and one son. In October 1670, Grove died, aged thirty.[1] In 1672, Keach married again, to Susanna Partridge of Rickmansworth. Partridge and Keach had five daughters, and remained wedded for thirty-two years.[1] Keach died on July 18, 1704, and was buried in a Baptist burial ground in Southwark. Partridge survived him, and lived until 1727.[1]
Works
- The Glory of a True Church, and Its Discipline Display’d, London: John Robinson (1697)
- The Progress of Sin, Or the Travels of Ungodliness, London: J. Clarke (5th edition, 1736)
- The Travels of True Godliness, Boston: Lincoln & Edmands (Revised and Improved, 1831)
- Gold Refin’d, or, Baptism in Its Primitive Purity, London: Printed for the author. (1689)
- An Exposition of the Parables and Express Similitudes of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, London: Aylott and Co. (1858)
- Spiritual Songs: Being the Marrow of the Scripture, in Songs of Praise to Almighty God; From the Old and New Testament, London: John Marshal (Second Edition, 1700)
- The Baptist Catechism, Commonly Called Keach's Catechism: Or, a Brief Instruction in the Principles of the Christian Religion, Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society. (1851)
- Tropologia: A Key to Open Scripture Metaphors, London: William Hill Collingridge (1856)
- The Marrow of True Justification, or, Justification without Works London: Dorman Newman (1692)
- War with the Devil; or the Young Man's Conflict with the Powers of Darkness; Displayed in a Poetical Dialogue between Youth and Conscience Coventry: T. Luckman. (n.d.)
- The Scriptures Superior to All Spiritual Manifestations. In H. C. Fish (Ed.), History and Repository of Pulpit Eloquence, Deceased Divines, Containing the Masterpieces (Vol. I), New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. (1856)
- A Golden Mine Opened: Or, the Glory of God's Rich Grace Displayed in the Mediator to Believers: And His Direful Wrath against Impenitent Sinners: Containing the Substance of near Forty Sermons upon Several Subjects, London: Printed for the author (1694)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gordon, Alexander (1892). "Keach, Benjamin". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 30. pp. 254–255.
- ^ Cathart (1881), p. 637-638
- ^ "Benjamin Keach Testified". Christianity.com. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- ^ Armitage, Thomas (1887). A history of the Baptists: traced by their vital principles and practices : from the time of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to the year 1886, Volume 1. p. 550.
- ^ Johnson, Corey (2021), "The Rise and Fall of Keach's Catechism: Evidence of an Underdeveloped Baptist Theology of Children", Gloria Deo Journal of Theology, Volume 1 (2021), retrieved 5 April 2023
- ^ Benjamin Keach Biography from Spurgeon's Autobiography
- ^ Keach, Benjamin (1698). "The Display of Glorious Grace:The Covenant of Peace Opened: Sermon 1, Isaiah 54.10 Latter Part" (PDF). Published Sermons. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- Brackney, William H. (2004). A Genetic History of Baptist Thought: With Special Reference to Baptists in Britain and North America. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press. pp. 33, 66–68, 74, 105, 116–117.
- Cathart, William (1881). The Baptist Encyclopaedia. Philadelphia: Everts.