ENOS KEITH. Alexander Keith, the father of this brilliant young preacher, was born in Virginia, but was of Scotch extraction. He united with the Baptists, in the time of their fiery persecutions. Soon after the Revolutionary war, he emigrated to Nelson county, Kentucky. He was in the constitution of White Oak Run church, in 1790.
Enos Keith was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, in 1788. His father moved to a new settlement on Vertrees Creek, in Hardin county, while Enos was a small boy; so that he was raised up in the frontier setlements, and consequently received very little education. In early childhood he became much interested on the subject of religion, and as soon as he learned to read, became a constant reader of the Bible, and was known to be often engaged in secret prayer. He professed faith in Christ, in his sixteenth year. There being no church in the settlement, he was not baptized till four years afterwards; but he immediately obtained permission, and set up family worship in his father's house. He also led in prayer, and engaged in exhortation, at the prayer meetings, held around in the settlers' cabins. His young heart seemed so much taken up with communion with God, that he appeared literally to "pray always." "We never went into the woods together," said his younger brother, Benjamin, "but Enos would kneel down and pray before we returned to the house. Sometimes he would wait till we came back in sight of the house, and I hoped he would forget it; but he never did. He would invaribly say, before we left the woods: "Ben, we must pray, before we go to the house."
During this time, Warren Cash began to preach in the Vertrees Creek settlement, and, in 1808, a church, called "Union," was constituted there. Soon after the constitution of this church, Enos Keith and his brother Benjamin were baptized by Mr. Cash, and became members of it. Enos was shortly afterward licensed to exercise his gift. This, however, he had been doing almost from the time of his conversion, four years before.
He was ordained at Union church, 1811, by Warren Cash and others and soon afterwards succeeded to the pastoral care of that congregation. He commenced preaching on Otter Creek, in what is now Mead [sic] county, and Otter Creek church was soon raised up. Brush Creek church, in Breckinridge county, was raised up through his labors. He also visited the new settlements in Grayson and Hart counties, and laid the foundation for other churches. Concord, in Grayson, originated under his ministry, in 1813. Of this, and Lost Run, in Breckinridge, he was pastor.
Probably no man in Kentucky, in his day, was more wholly absorbed in the great work of preaching the gospel, than Enos Keith. From his youth, he was filled with that wisdom which is from above. He kept so close to God, and communed with him so constantly, that heavenly things became as familiar to his heart and mind as the sensible objects around him, and he spoke of being to Heaven, or going to see Jesus, as a man talks about visiting his neighbors. His motive in preaching the gospel seemed to be to persuade sinners to come to Christ. He never impressed his congregation with the feeling that he was trying to preach a sermon; he talked to dying men and women as if Jesus were present, filled with love and pity, and yearning for them to come to him and be saved from the fearful doom that threatened them.
His manner, like that of John S. Wilson, Thomas Smith and a few other young men, whom God has raised up in Kentucky, is difficult to describe. His voice was clear and strong, yet very tender and impressive. His love and confidence towards Jesus Christ was real and manifest, and his love for the souls of men was so apparent that his hearers saw and felt it. He often wept profusely while speaking, and his whole soul seemed to run out after his dying fellows.
He never married, but consecrated himself wholly to the gospel, preaching day and night, and from house to house. But his work on earth was not of long duration. In the sumer of 1824, he was violently attacked with flux, of which he died in a few days, in the fullest assurance of a blessed immortality. A few hours before his death, Elder Simeon Buchanan called to see him. When he entered the room, the dying christian said to him: "Brother Buchanan, when I saw you last, I thought you would see Jesus before I should; but now I shall see him first." Thus passed away this godly man in the noontide of life.
His brother Benjamin entered the ministry soon after he did, and labored in the gospel more than fifty years.