xt7h707wmk8d https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7h707wmk8d/data/mets.xml White, Alexander Newton, 1844- 1912  books b92-64-27080984 English Published under the auspices of the Kentucky Baptist Historical Society, : [Louisville, Ky.] : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Keyes, Cleon, 1822-1911. Rev. Cleon Keyes  : an appreciation / by A.N. White. text Rev. Cleon Keyes  : an appreciation / by A.N. White. 1912 2002 true xt7h707wmk8d section xt7h707wmk8d 












































REV. CLEON KEYES


 













REV. CLEON KEYES

o AN APPRECIATION 4



B. y A, N. White.'.



Published Under the Auspices of the
   Kentucky Baptist Bistorical
          Society.


 
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Rev. Cleon Keyes
           AN APPRECIATION


           By A. N. WHITE

  DEDICATED TO THE OLD BAPTIST PREACHERS
OF KENTUCKY. WHO HAVE COURAGEOUSLY FACED
THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THEIR VOCATION,
BORNE THE BURDEN AND HEAT OF THE DAY OF
LIFE, KEPT THE FAITH, FINISHED THEIR COURSE.
AND ARE NOW WAITING FOR THE CALL OF THE
MASTER TO COME UP HIGHER.


 
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LNTRODUCTION.



  In the closing years of his life, Paul, the aggressive
apostle and devoted missionary to the Gentiles, in a
letter to 'his young friend, the pastor of the church
at Ephesus, reviews his own career. And part of the
letter reads tPus: " I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand. I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my courses I have
kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous
judge shall give me on that day; and not to me only,
but unto all them also who love his appearing."
What a magnificent record! What a glorious pros-
pect! What an inspiring ideal to set before the
young Timothy!
And there have been men since Paul's day who have
lived noble lives and wrought with steady, earnest
purpose to honor God and help men to saner thinking
and nobler living. Personal contact with a man of
this mould of character, a man who maintained high
ideals and fought the battles of life and ran its race
according to the rules laid down by the master um-
pire, would make it easier for a man to give himself
to the right and cheerfully meet the obligatioms which
the providenee of God had imposed on him. And
there are not a few, laymen and pastors, some gone to
their reward, some still living, who can testify to the
uplifting influence of the pastor who for a third of a
century preached the gospel in Lewisburg Baptist
church and exemplified its truths in the commnunity
by a godly walk nd upright conversation.


 
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I.



                   ANCESTRY.

  The suibject of this sketch, Cleon Keyes, comes of a
good old English family that emigrated to America
in the year 1653 and settled in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony.  Wherever the descendants of these early
New England settlers have found themselves they
have borne an honorable part in the civic, educational
and redl igious institutions of the country. Gershom
Keyes, his direct ancestor and from whom the South-
ern branch of the Keyes family is descended, left New
En-gland some time in the second quarter of the
eighteenth century and settled at Harper's Ferry,
in what is now known as Jefferson county, West Vir-
ginia, on the Potomac river, which forms the bound-
ary line of the State with M1aryland, and at the mouth
of the Shenandoah, where the united streams force
their way through the Blue Ridge 'Mountains. The
scenery around harper's Ferry is celebrated for its
beauty and grandeur. So close an observer as Thomas
Jefferson pronounced the passage of the Potomac
through the Blue Ridge one of the most stupendous
scenes in nature and well worth a voyage across the
Atlantic Ocean to look upon it, In the midst of this
grand and beautiful handiwvork of nature the South-
                         7


 


8      REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.

ern branch of thie Keyes FAmi'ly was cradled. There
is still extant a letter written by George Washington,
in the year 1762, to Gershom Keyes concerning the
survey of the tract of land on which the town of
Harper's Ferry is located, and though one hundred
and seventy years have pased since then the Ferry
is still in the possession of the Keyes family.




 
II.



             TEIE PIONEER SCHOOL.

  In the early years of the last century Frank Keyes
and his wife, Elizabethi Langfitte Keyes, settled on
the east bank of the little Kanawha river, about five
m'iles from  the town of Elizabeth, in what is now
Wirt county, West Virginia. To them were born eight
children. Cleon, the subject of this sketch, was born
October 23, 1822. His childhood and early surround-
iings differed in no way from that of the children of
other pioneer sett'iers. And it does not tax our credul-
ity to believe that he was brought up in the school of
hardship, self-denial and self-reliance. Althougn
his father was never identified with any church and
never made a public profession of faith in Christ, yet
the home in which Oleon first saw the light was ruled
by Ohristian influences. His mother was a God-fear-
ing, exemplary Ohirstiian, and she diligently taught
her ohilidren the love of all that is good and noble
and the hatred of all that is wrong and degrading.
The exemplary life and teachings of the mother were
not lost orn the son and the memory of them was fresh
in his muind till the last, and he fondly dwelt on them
while many events that occurred later in life had
faded from his memory.
                         9


 
10    REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATON.



  The opportniities for acquiring an education in
those early pioneer days were very limited, and in
most homes books were few, and for the greater num-
ber of children the schoolhouse was remotely located
and offered meagre acoomamodations in the way of
physical coinfort to the children that 'had the good
fortune to be able to attend. And not infrequently
the man who wielded the birch was not a pastmaster
in the art of teaching the young idea how to shoot.
With all these handieaips, however, the pioneer boy
was bent or. going to school, and being possered of
an eager desire to acquire an education, in company
with an older brother and two sisters he walked the
miles that stretched between his father's home and
the schoolhouse, and in doing so he often 'had to wade
the creek or th river. Being ourselves in the poses-
sion and use of illurinaiting ois and gases that fur-
nish every farmhouse and village with light almost
equal to the light of day, we can appreciate the eager-
nes of the boy to Require an education when'he tells
us that after the long walk from school in the after-
noon he would gather brush and pine-knots to make a
light by which to study his lemons and read the few
books to be found in the home and in the neighbor-
hood.




 


III.



      EARLY RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS.

  In early life, when nothing more than a lad, he
united with the Methodist Episcopal churmh on pro-
bation, as it was and is still the custom of that church
to receive members. However, when he began to
study the New Testament as to what constitutes
Scriptural baptism  and   church  membership he
changed his views on these subjects and was not long
in deciding that his convictions compelled him to
adopt the teaclings held and proclaimed by the Bap-
tists. Accordingly, he applied for membership in the
Baptist church located in the neighborhood, and made
profesion of' faith in Christ and was immersed the
first Sunday in June, A. I). 1840. The ordinance of
baptism was administered by Elder Enoch Rector, at
Reedy Riffle, in Little Kanawha river, and he became
a member of Bethesda Baptist church. And if ever
he entertained any doubts as to the wisdom of the
step that he took at that time and the correctness of
his denominational affiliations no one ever heard him
give voice to them.
  Soon after he was reecived into the fellowship of
the church Godi laid his hand on the young man and
marked him for his own, and so strong was the con-
                        11


 


12     REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.



viction that he was called of God to prod1aim the glad
tidigs of great joy he could say with Paul, "Woe is
unto me if 1 preach not the gospel." He was bound
to give himself to this work and when the "I must"
in response to the Divine leading was changed into
the "I will" then followed, as in every case of duty
recognized and accepted, a glorious freedom of action.
We come upon this imperative word "must" again
and again in the ministry of our Lord. It was the
law of the spirit of his life. And does not this same
law still operate in the he'art of every one born of
the Holy Spirit and called of God to preach the gos-
pel It has the same aill-dominating sense of obliga-
tion which caused Paul to say that a necessity was
laid upon him to preach the gospel. And in that
sweetblbndage is found the soul's freedom.
  But in the ease of our young man there were many
difficulties in the way, and to many persons they
would have Deemed insurmountable. And they looked
formidable enough to him. First of all there was the
impediment in his speech which often made it diffi-
cult for him to coin his words properly and quite as
difficult for others to understand him4. And more
serious stiA  when a mere boy he had become ad-
dicted to the habit of profane swearing and it was his
wont to preface almost every word with a terrible
oath. After Ohs coversion and reception into the
churoh this deplorable habit was not easily thrown
off, and its inexorable grip on him caused him great
sorrow and hunmiliation, and there was ever present


 


REV. CIEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.



the apprehension that he would stultify the profes-
sion he had made and bring reproach on the church
of which he was a memiber. Added to these was an-
other serious handicap, viz.: the want of any thing
like a proper education, and there was no encouraging
prospects by which the difficulties in the way could
be overcome. He was, however, so firmly persuaded
that God had called him to preach the gospel, he re-
quested the church to grant him-in the quaint phrase
current at that time- "the privilege of exercising his
gifts." The sanction of the church was obtained and
on the fourth Sunday in February, 1841, when he was
little more tham eighteen years old, he preacheded
his first sermon and he lived to witness the seventieth
annivemary of his beginning to preach the gospel.
His text on this eventful occasion was: "Behold I
bring yoiu good tidings of great joy which shall be
to all people."
  It was an embarrasing occasion for the tyro in the
roll of a preacher. The house was full to overflowing.
The whole comrmwnity turned out to hear their neigh-
bor boy. There were present his own family, his
neighbors and friends. The girls and boys with whom
he had romped on the playground and who had been
parties to his piccadillos, were looking up into his
eyes. And not least there was present his mother be-
loved, all atremble with joy and apprehension, joy
that -her boy would become a herald of the cross and
apprehension lest he should not acquit himself credit-
ably. There is no record as to how well he succeeded



13


 


14     REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.

in his maiden effort to preach the gasped but it is in
evideum that in lesa than a mouth from that day he
was licensed of the church to preach.




 
I'V.



             HIS FMST REVIVAL.

  During the spring and summer of 1841 he preached
ocasionsiay in hi8 immediate neighborhood and the
surrounding commuanities. In the autumn of the
same year he went to Rector College in Pruntytown.
Taylo7r coRuty, to prosecute his studies under the
direction of Rev. Charles Wheeler, a graduate of
Brown University and a classmate of Adoniram Jud-
son, and at that time the principal educator in that
part of the State. Pruntytown was something over
a hundred miles from his home, and yet when the
time came for him to bid the homefolks good-bye he
started out afot and walked almost the entire dis-
tance, carrying all his possessions in his hands. For
some reason or other, unknown to the writer, he re-
mained in college onary a few months, and henceforth
his studies and reading were prosecuted alone in con-
nection with the preaching of the gospel and caring
for the chaurches to the charge of which the providence
of God called him. While still in college, however,
he was snmt by Rev. James Gawthorp to the West
Fork cibureli in Marion county to supply for him one
Sunday, Mr. (awthorp being sick and unable to go.
The reult of this visit was perhaps a suiprise to the
                        15


 


16     REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.



young preacher, to the pastor who sent him, and -to
the church to which he was sent. However that may
be, the ehurch w58 so impressed by the preaching of
this young man, who was still less than twenty years
old, that they invited him to remain and preach for
them a series of sermons. And thus enicoraged by
the open door before him and stimulatd by the ap-
proval of his bretbireni, without any expectation on
his part and without any preparation when he went
to the community. he found himself in the midst of
his first revival. He caught the ear of the commun-
ity and riveted their attention from the first, and God
honored his word and many souls were converted and
never did a young mother rejoice more over the com-
ing of her first-born than did this young preacher re-
joice over the first fruits of his ministry. During
this series of sermons he preached from this text:
"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall seb
God," and the immedLiate, visible fruits of this ser-
mon were the conversion of twenty-three souls who
made public profcion of faith in Christ.  There
were twenty-nine conversions during the meeting and
of this numiber twenty-eight joined  the  Baptist
ohurclh, one going to another denomination.
  Soon after the close of this meeting our young
licentiate was invited by the church to preach for
them once a month, the regular pastor, Rev. James
Gawthorp, preaching twice a month. T'his arrange-
ment proved satisfactory, the old pastor and the
young Timothy working together harmoniously for a


 


       REV. CLFON KEYES--AN APPRECIATION.      17

few months, when, to enarge his Sphere of usefulness
the churcih called for the ordination of the younger
man. Accordingly he was ordained in the spring of
1842, and commissioned by the West Fork church and
sent forth to preach the gospel and administer the
ordinances in accordan-ee with the views as held and
proclaimed  by the   Baptist, denomination'.  Rev.
Charles Wheeler, his preceptor, was Moderator of the
council. Revs. James Gawthorp and Thomas Swigert
were also menrnbers of the council.


 
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V.



              FIRST PASTORATE.

  Mr. Keyes at the time of his ordimtion had not
coImpldeted his tewentieth year. Within a few months
firom the day of his ordination he became pastor of
Miracle Run Baptist church in Moonlia county.
In after yeaxs, when speaking oLf his early mimstry,
he was wont, humorously to say that, to moke sure
there should rest no shadow of doubt on his qualifi-
catons as a bishop, he proceeded to complete them
by taking unto himself a wife, sand thus before he was
a full-fledged citizen of the Comimonwealth, viz.: on
February 23, 1843, he was married to Joanna Hol-
land, daughter of Rezin and Joana Hollard. Mrs.
Keyes, who was a true helpmeet and devoted mother,
after several years of patient suffering, survived till
the year 1873, when her sufferings were ended by the
summons from the angel of death and she went bV
dwell on high in the city which hath foumdatiom and
whose builder and maiker is G'(
  Though smal of stature and having no look of the
athlete about him, yet our young preacher was maiking
rapid strides. Converted and baptized before he was
eighteen years old, licensed to preach ad havinlg end-
ed his collegiate course, he was ordained and mwried
                        19


 
20     REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.



before he had attained his majority. He was cer-
tainly making some progre. But I am sure no one
who knew him well would gather from these fact,
however highly our hero honored the wedded life,
and however great the demand for preacihers, that a
youmg man would be justified in rushing into either
matrimony or the ministry without thoughtful con-
sideration of his course and the fullest preparation
for both steps. We all know what an ardent advo-
cate of education 'he was for both the sons and daugh-
ters of our people, and our Baptist schools and col-
leges had no warmer supporter than he. I have a
vivid remembrance of one of his speeches on the sub-
ject of theological education. It was delivered before
the Bracken Association in the early seventies, while
Dr. Boyce was in Kentucky canvassing the churches
to raise the endowment to justify the removal of the
Seminary from Greenville to Louisville. The advan-
tages of 'having, the Semainary in Kentucky were set
forth by himself and others, and after he had ap-
pealed to the churches to come forward and endow
our school of the prophets he closed with this hlamely
and forcible illustration. If a man had to fell a for-
est he would economize time and labor by looking
well to the temper and edge of the axe he was to use,
and so long as either could be greatly improved it
would be wise to defer the beginning of the work.
And if he could speak to the young men who are to-
day contemplating the ministry, or any other voca-
tion, he won-ld say reemnmber the childhood and the


 


       REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.      21

waiting time of tile Son of Mary in the Galileam hills.
Don't think all the opportunities of preaching the
gospel and winning success are rushing by so fast
that you must throw yourself into the thick of the
fight before you afre equipped for the fray.


 
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r tL



          BECOM.NES A MISSIONARY.

  In the same year of his marriage, he was appointed
misaionary in Preston eounty by the General Associa-
tion of Virginia. In 1844 he was called for half-time
service to the care of the Middleville church, in Tay-
lor county, and in the autumn of 1849 he located in
Pruntytown, the county-seat. Early in the year 1850
he became pastor of the Baptist church in that town,
and in July of the same year he became pastor of the
chureh at Olarksburg, giving to each of them two
Sundays in each month.
  Soimetime in the aiutmn of 1850, Mr. Keyes con-
dueted a seris of meetings with the Baptist church
in Parkersburg, West Virginia, whiich stirred the
whole community and resulted in the conversion of
eighty souls. One of those converted on that occa-
sion was a young man, just past eighteen years old,
who ever afterwards retained a vivid remembrance
of the meeting and the preacher who conducted it.
The late Charles Rhoads. of Ohio, is the man to whom
I refer, and who for thirty-five years rendered faith-
ful and eminently efficient service in the Sunday
School cause in the Buckeye State.
                        23


 


24     REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.



  From the " The Memorial of Mm. Rhoads, " by
Prof. Ira M. Price, I quote the following:
  "Wohen the biography of Ohio Baptists is written
and their Bible School history is completed lihe name
of Charles Rhoads willi be deservedly honored. No
one more fully appreciated the work he did than the
writer, and at this moment it is a matter for regret
that more exact notes of his work in Ohio are not at
hand. . . . A leds energetic man would have failed, a
more conservative man would have made little im-
pression. The work demanded ww that of a reform-
er and organizer. Coming into Ohio largely through
the influence of Judge T. W. Ewart, who was one of
the most efficient churoh and Sunday School workers
Ohio has produced, Brother Rheoads conducted the
Sunday School Institutes, as they were called,
throughout the State, and at the same time acted as
the most effective promoter of the work of the Publi-
cation Society that we have so far had. To Brother
Rlhoads the Sunday School was no mere Sunday kin-
dergarten, but the Bible atudying serviee of the
6hurch.... His plea was that the w1hol must be
made in the largest sense a school into wlhi the
membership of the church and as many oteihs as pos-
sible should be gathered and a systematic course of
Bible study pursued. In his later years he came to
regard a regular course of study, graded to the differ-
ent ages and acquirements as needful in, sustaining
anythfing liike a successful result."
  At the age cf eventy, Mr. Rhoads was still engaged


 


REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.



in Sunday School work. But in the spring of 1903 he
began to note signs of failing strength, and he gave
up his customary active life and returned to his home
in Granville, Ohio. He died in a hospital in Colum-
bus, October 20, 1906, where he submitted to a sur-
gical operation, after which he survived only two
slays. Concerning this crisis he wrote to hns son-in-
law, Prof. Ira M. Priee, under date of September 25,
1906, to this effect: "I have been looking forward
to this for over three years. I am not confident of a
favorable result, but am hopeful. I shall live iTf I can.
If my time has come to die, I know whom I have be-
lieved, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have eontmitbed unto Him against that day.
I shall grieve only for my wife's sorrow."
  Since writing the foregoing paragraph I have re-
ceived a copy of a letter, written by Brother Keyes,
concerning the meeting at Parkersburg. It is insert-
ed without abridgement, because of its pertinence
in this connection and beeause it was the last letter
written by the aged pastor, and is dated three and a
half years before his death occurred:

                           "Kentucky, Oct., 1907.
"Hon D. D. Johnson, Esq., Parkersburg, W. Va.:
  "Dear Bro.:-Your kind favor of the 20th ult.,
was reived several d(ays since, requesting me to give
you such atcount as I can of the Parkersburg church.
When I knew it, but especially the meeting held with.



25


 


26 .   REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.



them in Ocitober and November, 1850. I shall confine
my communication to the meeting.
  "I very reluctantly engaged in that meeting. The
reason of my reluctance was that in the fall of 1848.
with Bro. Rector as pastor. at his request, I spetnt a
week there, preaching twice a day, but utterly failed
to arouse the church, or the unconverted. The meert-
ing, it seemed, was a complete failure, and at its close
I resolved never to attempt another protracted meet-
ing in Parkersburg.
  "In 1850 the Parkexsburg Amiciation met in Sis-
tersville. I attended, and the messengers from Par-
kersburg, with Elder Hoff, who was supplying the
churchw urged me to go to Parkersburg in the fall and
hold a meeting with the churchl I frankly told them
I could not do it. 1 was very busy with my own
churches, could hardly spaare tihe time, but most of all
because orf my promise not to hold a meeting there.
They insisted and urged and finally it was agreed to
leave the matter with Elder John D. Riley, who, after
hearing my statement about the former effort and
my solemn promise, decided against me; said the
promise was a bad one, baeer to be broken than kept.
So there was nothing left me but to yield. I then
told them that the Lord willing, on Friday niight be-
fore the third Sunday in October, I would begn a
meeting, but could only promAse two weeks, no more.
  "But I did not reach them until Sunday, and
preached the first sermon that night. The brethren
had started a prayer meeting Wednesday night be-


 


REV. CLEON KWIOS-AN APPRECIAT1ON.



fore. I devoted the first week preachimg to the
exhurl saying nothing to the unconverted. But there
was ev1idently a deep interest among the unsaved, as
was manifest by the numbers who presented them-
selves at every invitation for prayer.
  "Wednesday, the 15th day from     the starting of
the prayer mecLing, was a day of fasting and prayer.
It was well attended, and deep interest manifested.
Early in the afternoon, I heard some one singing in
the gallery. I looked up and saw 'Aunt Jinny,' an
old oolored woman, member of the Church weaving
backwarrd and forward, singing in a'high treble key,
'If you git dar before I do, look out for me, I 'se com-
ing, too.' I sasid to myself, thank the Lord, it has
come at last. Up to that time there had not been a
single conversion. That day there were five, all
young people who joyfully professed faith in Christ.
Erm that time the mueting moved     on   gloriously.
There- were conversioms at every service as well as at
their homes. It was useless to think of leaving then,
so the meetings were contined till the third Sunday
night in Novemrber. It hal resulted in a precious
harvest.  There were forty added to the Baptist
church, thirty-six by baptism and four by letter.
How manry converts in all f do not remember. Some
united with the Methodista, some with the Presbyte-
rians, some with thc country churches. Take it all
in all, it was perhaps the most remarkable, and in its
influences, far reaching revival I was ever en-gged



27


 


REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.



in. It was a meeting of much prayer and face to
face work with the unsaved and backsliders.
  "Elder Horl was the leader. He entered heart and
soul into the -,Nork and worked wisely, Deacon Dud-
ley and wife came into the church by letter and be-
came a tower of strength and influence. D. T. C.
Farrow and his brother, Joseph, were roused as never
before and did eftisetive work. Add to these Deacons
Hopkins and Simpson, Coffer and Tims, and others,
all Godly, earnest men and women, fired with love to
God and for souls. and it is easy to see how the meet-
ing was a success. Deacon Farrow is, so far as I can
recall, the only worker with me in that ifleeting now
living. They are all gone, entered the mansions above
singing the praises of God and the Lamb in that
home 'where Congregations ne'efr break up and Sab-
baths never eid..'
  " My daughter has just reminded me that I have
failed to make mention of Brother Charles Rhoads,
one of the converts, who made a very useful Chris-
tian.
                        "Yours in Chrit,,
                                   C. KEYES."
  "P. S.-Dear Bro. Johnson: Please excuse pencil.
I can't handle a pen well and my Children have re-
fused to wopy, saying it is plainly written and may
,be more appreciated if in my own handwriting. This
may be so, so I yield. I shall be eighty-five the 23rd



28


 


       REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.        29

of thuis month, totally deaf and nearly blind. This is
thfe only letier I have tried to write in years.
                             " Good-bye,    K."

  The pastorates at Pruntytown and Clarksburg be-
gan within a few months of each other and ended at
the same time, 1857, when Mr. Keyes removed to
Kentucky. The data for any thing like a satisfactory
history of the work aft the former of these churches
could not be obtained, but reliable general informa-
tion shows that the work of Mr. Keyes was very suc-
cessful. During one meeting in which the preaching
was done by the pastor sixty souls were converted
and received into the church on profession of faith
itn Christ and by baptimn.


 
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VII.



                 CLARKSB URG.

  The Baptist church at Clarkgburg was organized A.
P., 1848. Sixteen constituent members went into the
organization. T1heir first pastor was Rev. James
Woods, who preached for the church once a month.
During the first year following the organization there
was very little change in the condition of the little
church, and thle outlook for it was not very hopeful.
In February, Mr. Keyes, then just a little past twen-
ty-seven years old, was incvited to come to Clarksburg
and hold a series of meetings in the Baptist church.
The records do not show that hle was requested to dis-
cuss the doctrines that distinguish Baptists from oth-
er denominations. The meetings continued for sev-
eral days and nights and the preaching at the Bap-
tist church arrested the attention of the whole com-
munity. The people came and heard the word and
the Holy Spirit was present to make it effective, and
as a result of these meetings nineteen souls were con-
verted and received nto the church.
  During these meetings Mr. Keyes never shrank
from preaching a full gospel, though the church for
which he was preaching was few in numbers and had
little soeial prestige, and less financial standing. The
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32 REV. CLEON EYES-AN APPRECIATION.



majority of tbose who attended the meetings were
Pedo-baptists and had scant sympathy with the doc-
trines that distinguished Whe Baptists from other de-
nominations. But the preacher emphasized the doc-
trines of salvation by grace, a converted membership
in the constitution ot a church, believers' baptism,
and he boldly proclaimed that the immersion of a
believing penitent and that alone met the require-
inents of the New Testament as to the ordinance of
baptism. His forceful presentation of the New Testa-
ment doctr.nes on these subjects aroused opposition
in the comnunity and to neutralize the doctrines
proclaimed at the Baptist church the Pedo-baptists
called to their assistance a distinguished professor
of theology from  Peymsylvania. He came and the
preacher and his subject were heralded abroad far
and wide. Of course. he preached on the subject of
baptism. Mr. Keyes was present and at the close of
the sermon he arxose and modestly asked permission
to say a word. His request was granted and to the
surprise of everybody present and to the consterna-
tion of some of his friends he announced that at a
certain time and place he would reply to the argu-
ments in the sermroi to which they had just listened.
Many of his friends considered his intellectual fur-
nishings and logical acumen insufficient to cope with
so formidable a champion of long established eclesi-
astical practice. But Mit. Keyes' able and enthusi-
astic statement and defense of the teachings and prac-
tices of the Baptists completely disarmed the Pedo-


 


REV. CIEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.



baptist champion, silenced his guns and the contro-
versy for the time being was at an end. Henceforth,
Baptist teachiigs and practices were better under-
stood and more respected in Clarksburg, and the
little church from this time held an honorable place
in the community and exercised a commanding in-
fluence among the forces that lead to righteousness
and the uplift of men. And today after the lapse of
sixty years, Mr. Keyes is remembered in Clarksburg
as a successful preacher and an able champion of
Baptist principles.
  Although the organization had been effected some-
thing like a year and a half the little flock still had
no home and vere worshipping in the court house.
Judge Duncan, one of the leading citizens of the
commuauity, had given the church a lot on which to
erect a house of worship, but it was not centrally
located and Mr. Keyes persuaded them not to build
on it, but to exchange it for another lot more con-
venient for their purpose. This lot also belonged to
Judge Duncan, who on request agreed to exchange
with the chlreoh. In June, l18O, Mr. Woods, having
resigned as pastor, at the request of the church, the
General Association of Virginia appointed Mr. Keyes
as their missionary at Cla.rksburg, and for the next
seven years he preached for them two Sundays in
each month.
  When he accepted the care of the church and be-
ga.n his work in Clarksburg the temporal possess ons
of the whole churoch did not exceed five hundred dol-



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34     REV. CLEON KEYES-AN APPRECIATION.



lars. A good lot on which to build a house of wor-
ship 'had ben secured but there was hamging over it
a debt of one 'hundred and forty dollars, and a con-
tract had been let for building the church. Between
three hundcred and fifty -and four hundred dollars
had been promised for building purposes. These
subscriptions were in small sums, ranging from
twenty-five cents up to a few that amounted some to
ter. and a very few to twenty-five dollars. The per-
sons who had givne these promises were scattered
over a large part of North West Virginia and West-
ern ennsylvania. It is not surprising that many of
these promises were never redeemed. In fact only
abo