THE ACTOR IS CONVERTED - ELIAS KEACH

This article was taken from a history of Pennepack Church in Pennsylvania.  Fascinating but true - ed.

In the year 1640, Benjamin Keach was born in England. In his teen years he would be baptized into the Baptist branch of the Christian faith tree and at age 18 would become a preacher. In 1666, the year of the great London fire, he and his wife had a son whom they named Elias [Elias being another version of the name Elijah, the passionate and fiery prophet of the Old Testament]. Perhaps great hopes had been laid upon Elias’ tiny head, to carry the mantle of this great man of God.

Benjamin would himself become a champion of Baptist ideals and opposition to religious oppression, seeing his books burned and spending time in prison and in the Pillory [known also as ‘The Stocks’, with his head and hands enclosed]. Much has been written about Rev. Benjamin Keach, but not much is known about Elias’ early life.

What we do know is that Elias eventually sailed across the ocean to land in William Penn’s new colony in 1686, a twenty-year-old young man in whose suitcase was a black robe and a white band. Why did he come to the new world? Did he come over to escape persecution in England and to be free to worship God as he pleased, as his father had taught? Was he sent here by Dad to begin a Baptist work so that there could be a father/son trans-Atlantic connection in the spread of Baptist principles and influences? Or, was he here to escape his father’s influence; here in Penn’s Woods to be free to not worship God [as Penn also permitted]? Was he a prodigal son, not yet come to his senses? What would it take for that to happen?

Why do we suggest such negative motives for young Elias? Because, of course, we know the story already! We know that he was, as early reports related him to be, a ‘very wild spark’ or ‘wild scamp’, whose preacher’s black robe and the white band were not secured by calling or training, but were used for ‘sport’ as he pretended to be a preacher for the fun of it.

Why would anyone want to hear him preach? He had no church or letters of recommendation. Because of his famous father, obviously! Elias was a brazen and bold young man, who, like the prodigal in Jesus’ story, had traveled to a far country and was spending his ‘inheritance’, only in a most unusual way. But the Heavenly Father had a plan for the young prodigal. The stage was set to bring the plan into play. It only needed Elias to walk upon it.

Somehow, those Welsh farmers living north and east of the Village of Philadelphia, and their Irish and English friends, heard that Elias Keach, son of the cherished Benjamin Keach was right here in the new world. And apparently, he was a preacher himself. What an opportunity! The invitation went out. It was accepted, brazenly and boldly. Surely, they couldn’t wait to hear him speak. So the young actor took center stage and began his charade.

What did young Elias preach on? We’re not sure. Perhaps he had some of his father’s written sermons that he would read from. Or maybe he could recall from memory what Dad had said and imitate whatever arm motions his father might have employed. What was his theme? Was it love, grace, sin, repentance? Did he listen carefully to what he himself was preaching, even if it was just a performance?

What was Elias saying when his heart began to flutter and speed its beating as his conscience sounded the loudest alarm he’d ever heard? What was the last word to leave his lips before he fell to the ground weeping under the weight of Holy Spirit-sponsored conviction and dread? We do not know. What we do know is that when his surprised group of hearers rushed over to him, out of concern that he might be gravely ill, with shame he informed them of the true nature of what they had witnessed. He was an ‘imposter’ who was now fearful for his soul and desirous of the mercy of God.

To his hearer's credit, they did not turn their backs on this pretentious actor who had made fools of them for ‘sport’. Instead, they had mercy on him and took him to Rev. Thomas Dungan, now in the last year of his life and waiting in the wings, though unknowingly, to play his special role in the unfolding drama. Tenderly, Dungan would lead the humbled young Elias to a surrender and commitment of that fluttering heart to Jesus Christ. He would baptize him and mentor him in the ways of a true follower of the Master. Picture Did Elias, newly reborn and come to his senses, get on the first ship back to England to leap off of it and into his father’s arms, the prodigal returned home, the son who was dead now alive? What else was there for a former ‘wild scamp’ to do? No, he did not. God had other plans, just as wonderful.

What if that group of once-deceived farmers opened their arms and hearts to receive the reformed actor as their Pastor? What if young Elias became passionate about speaking the good news of the mercy of the Savior and the story of his own conversion at the hands of that mercy?! How amazing would that have been? And that is exactly what they did, and what he did. Thus, the Pennepack Baptist Church in 1688. In the following year, Elias would travel many miles to preach, baptize, and otherwise assist in the developing of communities of the Kingdom, down in the village of Philadelphia, around Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and elsewhere. Even though Elias would not pastor Pennepack Baptist after 1689, his missionary zeal and efforts, as well as that of others, such as John Watts, who succeeded him as Pastor, would establish a pattern for Baptists to follow. For a while, the various churches would meet twice a year at different locations to hear the word preached and fellowship with one another. Then in 1707, it was agreed that they should more formally commit themselves to one another and to uniting in the work of the Lord. Pennepack, along with four other missionary-minded churches, Cohansey, Middletown, and Piscataway in New Jersey [now Stelten Baptist], and the Welsh Tract Church in Delaware, formed the very first Baptist association in America, the Philadelphia Baptist Association.