Benjamin Keach
On an October day in 1664, 24-year-old English pastor Benjamin Keach stood on trial. The charge was “schismaticall factions and hereticall matter.” The subject: infant baptism. The text in question: a primer Reverend Keach wrote for children.
As a Baptist, Reverend Keach believed and taught the practice was for those mature enough to profess faith in Christ, a conviction he came to after much study. He was saved at age 15 and began his pastorate at age 18 – in the church that would in later times become known as the Metropolitan Tabernacle – pastored in the 19th century by Charles Spurgeon.
A prolific author, he received a lot of unwanted attention from the Church of England, resulting in the trial mentioned above. His books were burned in front of him, he was sentenced to two weeks in jail, then two hours in the ‘pillory’ (i.e. – ‘stocks’) with the written charge to be displayed prominently, “For writing and publishing a schismatical book…”
Normally in a pillory, the accused would be pelted with objects or stones and be subject to jeering from the crowd. Keach’s response was to use the time there as a preaching opportunity. With his wife by his side, he spoke clearly to the crowds, holding their attention. An Episcopal minister was brought to shout him down but the crowd, knowing the preacher himself lived an ungodly life, was drowned out with laughter.
Through his life, Benjamin Keach found himself fighting the fight for Baptist doctrine in a then-unfriendly situation. He was noted as a staunch defender who always brought the discussion back to Scripture. He was fined and threatened numerous other times. Spurgeon, later writing about him, said that to people like Benjamin Keach, “we as Baptists owe our very existence.”
Reverend Keach as a reformer as well. It was common practice then in English churches that, if singing was to be done at all, it was limited to the Psalms. Studying Scripture, Keach became convicted that music should be a part of the church’s service. Introducing music he wrote at the observance of the Lord’s Supper, he won both friends and detractors.
Benjamin Keach is an example of a godly man who based his doctrine on the Word of God, and ensured his own life and his congregation followed suit.
Christian History e-mail, 08 Oct 2022
https://digitalpuritan.net/benjamin-keach/
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