Alexander Keith (minister)

Rev Dr Alexander Keith DD (1792–1880) was a Church of Scotland and Free Church minister, known for his writings on biblical prophecy.
Life.
He was the son of George Skene Keith of Keith Hall and Kinkell, where he was born at the manse on 13 November 1792. He graduated M.A. at Marischal College, in 1809. He was ordained by the Church of Scotland as minister of St. Cyrus in 1816, remaining there until 1839.
At the Disruption of 1843, Keith left the established Church of Scotland and joined the Free Church of Scotland.
Keith is probably best remembered for his book, "Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Religion Derived from the Literal Fulfillment of Prophecy", which has gone through numerous revisions and many editions. It is still in print in a 2005 edition from Kessinger Publishing.
He died in Buxton, Derbyshire, on the 8th of February 1880, and was buried, at his own request, in the graveyard at Chinley Chapel.
The Holy Land.
Keith is also remembered as one of four Church of Scotland ministers who in 1839 undertook a Mission of Inquiry to Palestine. The others were Andrew Bonar, Robert Murray M'Cheyne and Dr. Alexander Black. The group travelled through France, Greece, and Egypt then overland to Gaza. The route home led through Syria, the Austrian Empire and some of the German States. The group sought Jewish communities along the route to inquire about the readiness of these communities to accept Christ and, separately, their preparedness to return to Israel as prophesied in the Bible. Keith recounts the journey in his 1844 book "The Land of Israel According to the Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob". It was also in that book that Keith used the slogan that became popular with other Christian Restorationists, A land without a people for a people without a land. In 1844 he revisited Palestine with his son, Dr George Skene Keith (1819–1910), who was the first person to photograph the land.
Keith is one of a large number of Christians who campaigned for a restoration of the Jews to their ancient homeland. In 1844 he wrote: "Greece was given to the Greeks, and in seeking any government for Syria, may not a confederacy of kings - give Judea to the Jews?" 
Family.
Rev. Alexander Keith married Jane Blaikie in 1816. They were parents to two surgeons who set up a private hospital in Edinburgh and were members of the Photographic Society of Scotland.