1640–1704

Introduction

portrait

Born: Feb­ru­ary 29, 1640, Stoke-Ham­mond, Buck­ing­hamshire, Eng­land.

Died: Ju­ly 18, 1704, Hor­sely­down, South­wark, Eng­land.

Buried: Bap­tist bu­ry­ing ground, in the Park, South­wark, Eng­land.

illustration

Biography

Keach joined a Bap­tist church ear­ly in life, and be­gan to preach at age 18. For the next 10 years, he worked as an ev­an­gel­ist in towns and vil­lages, oft­en be­ing per­se­cut­ed for his prin­ci­ples as a Bap­tist and Non­con­for­mist. Up­on pub­li­ca­tion of The Child’s In­struct­or, he was fined, pil­lo­ried, and im­pri­soned.

In 1668, Keach moved to Lon­don and be­came pas­tor of a Bap­tist church which met first in pri­vate homes, and lat­er in Hor­se­ly­down, South­wark.

There a large con­gre­ga­tion ga­thered around him, to which he min­is­tered un­til his death. He was the first to in­tro­duce sing­ing to Bap­tist con­gre­ga­tions.

Works

Sources

Lyrics