Ambrose Dudley (c. 1752-1825)
by Steve Weaver
Frankfort, KentuckyAmbrose Dudley was born in about 1752 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. He served as a Captain in the Virginia Militia during the Revolutionary War. He moved to Kentucky in 1786 and served as the pastor of the Bryan's Station Baptist Church from October 22, 1786 until his death over thirty-nine years later on January 27, 1825. He was recognized as a leader by the other pastors of the associations to which he belonged by being elected moderator twenty-five times. Dudley preached all across the countryside and was instrumental in the organization of several churches in Kentucky during his lifetime. One early Kentucky historian wrote of the indomitable spirit of the first generation of pioneer preachers. After listing a number of names, including Ambrose Dudley, he wrote that they were all "men of ardent piety, untiring zeal, indomitable energy of character, of vigorous and well-balanced intellects, and in every way adapted to the then state of society." He continued to extol these men as:
Pioneers to a wilderness beset with every danger and every privation, they were the first ministers of the brave, the daring, and noble spirits who first subdued this country - such men as the Boones, the Clarkes, the Harrods, the Bullitts, the Logans, the Floyds, and the Hardins would respect and venerate, and listen to with delight and profit.
Truly, this must have been a remarkable generation of preachers who could command the attention of their rugged pioneer contemporaries. Their story deserves to be told once again. In what follows an attempt is made to relate the story of one of the more prominent of these pioneer preachers.
Family Background
The parents of Ambrose Dudley were Robert (1726-1766) and Joyce nee Gayle Dudley of Fredericksburg, VA. Ambrose was only fourteen years old when in 1766 his father died. Robert left behind a widow and five minor sons. Ambrose was the second born of these five sons. His elder brother Robert, who was a Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War, died in September of 1777 from wounds received in the Battle of Brandywine. His brother Peter was a Major in the Revolutionary War, but died of natural causes on the family estate in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Another brother, James, moved to Bourbon County, Kentucky and died there in 1808.
Ambrose's youngest brother, William, deserves a little more attention since by 1778 he was under the guardianship of Ambrose after having been orphaned when he may have been as young as twelve. When Ambrose moved to Kentucky in 1786, William was apparently still a member of his household. In the first tax records for which the Dudleys were present in Fayette County, William was listed as a male above 21 in the household of Ambrose Dudley. By 1792, William had his own 150 acres. William would become a respected resident and a leading magistrate in Fayette County. He was received as a candidate for baptism at the Bryan Station Baptist Church in November of 1801. During the War of 1812, William served as a Colonel and courageously led a group of 800 men to silence a British battery of cannons at Fort Meigs on May 5, 1813. This effort was successful, but in a subsequent engagement with British troops in the area he and his company were lured into the woods, surrounded by Indians and defeated. Early Kentucky historian Lewis Collins provides the gruesome details of the death of the Colonel. "Colonel Dudley was shot in the body and thigh, and thus disabled. When last seen, he was sitting in the swamp, defending himself against the Indians, who swarmed around him in great numbers. He was finally killed, and his corpse mutilated in a most shocking manner." These events caused William Dudley to achieve infamy as this episode became known nationally as "Dudley's Defeat." Undoubtedly, given the closeness between these two brothers, William's tragic demise would have pained his brother deeply when the news reached Fayette County, Kentucky.
Marriage and Children
On February 2, 1773 Ambrose would marry Ann Parker (1753-1824) of Caroline County, Virginia. They would remain together for fifty-one years until Ann's death at the age of 72 on November 7, 1824. Their union was blessed with eleven sons and three daughters. James Welch, one who was personally acquainted with the Dudley family and would have observed Dudley's interaction with his children, wrote that Dudley was a loving father who did not like to be apart from his family and home. Nevertheless, he was also a strict disciplinarian: "He never spoke but once. This combination of loving discipline undoubtedly had a positive impact on the lives of his children. Of the male descendants of this couple, J. H. Spencer could write in 1885 that:
The Dudleys have been men of strongly marked characteristics, bearing strong impressions of those of their reverend ancestor. They have been men of strong symmetrical intellects, of unflinching integrity and firmness, and of dauntless courage. They have possessed practical intelligence rather than genius, frankness and candor rather than suavity and blandishments, and have been strong props rather than brilliant ornaments to society. There have been among them preachers, lawyers, doctors, bankers, soldiers and farmers, all prominent in their callings. But there have been among them no poets, no painters, no orators and no rhetoricians, on the one hand, and on the other hand no dandies, no loafers and no mendicants, at least till the blood of their noble ancestors has become much diluted in the remoter generations. How hath God blessed, and made a blessing, the numerous seed of his faithful servant and hand maiden. Surely the promises of God are all yea and amen.
God truly multiplied Dudley's progeny as at the time of his death on January 27, 1825 he left behind nearly 100 grandchildren.
Before the Revolutionary War began, Ambrose Dudley provided for his young family as a master joiner and house carpenter. On September 14th of 1774, John Darnaby apprenticed himself to Dudley in his occupation as a joiner and house carpenter. Interestingly, Darnaby would follow Dudley into military service, as well as to Kentucky where he would be ordained as a deacon in the Bryan's Station church in November 1786, the month after Dudley accepted the call as pastor of the church.
Military Career
In the Spring of 1776, when the War for Independence was just beginning, Dudley was moved by his "ardent love of freedom" to enlist in the Virginia Militia in order that he might fight "for the emancipation of his down-trodden country." Dudley was evidently a natural born leader, because at the age of twenty four he was immediately commissioned as a Captain in the 2nd Regiment of the State of Virginia Line of the Continental Army upon enlistment. Although she provides no documentation for this claim, in her genealogical study of the Dudley and Pratt families Mary B. Pratt asserts that Dudley was commissioned by his fellow Virginian patriot Patrick Henry. James E. Welch, whose parents were baptized by Dudley, wrote that his "manners and general habits seemed to indicate that he was born to exercise authority." Welch attributes Dudley's rapid commissioning as Captain to the fact that he was "a man full six feet high; of fine personal appearance; unusually active, intelligent and decided." Whatever the reason, Dudley seemed to rise to a position of leadership wherever he went. This was borne out in later years as he became the pastor of the Bryan Station church within months of having arrived in the community and afterward as he was regularly elected by his fellow pastors as moderator of both the Elkhorn and Licking associations. The same natural gifts of leadership which would eventually be recognized during his Kentucky ministry were already evident at this early date.
Before Dudley and his men marched into service in the Spring of 1776, his company was stationed in his own barn in Fredericksburg for two weeks. They then marched through the counties of Caroline, Hanover, King William and King and Queen Counties, Virginia to Williamsburg. They apparently remained stationed there for the remainder of Dudley's service. Dudley only remained in the Continental Army for approximately a year before he resigned his post for what he clearly considered a higher calling - the call to preach the gospel of Christ.
Although both Gwathmey's Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution and Heitman's Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution list Dudley's years of service as 1780-1781, it is clear from other sources that he actually served 1776-1777. Three soldiers who served under him bear separate, but corroborating testimony to the fact that Dudley served in the years 1776-1777. John Darnaby, Benjamin Wilkerson and Miller Bledsoe each state in their individual applications for pension that they enlisted under Captain Dudley in either 1776 or 1777. Dudley himself confirms that he was in the army in 1777 in his letter of April 17, 1818 which is attached to Wilkerson's application:
Fayette County April 17 1818
Sir in answer to yours of the 3rd of this inst. relative to an old soldier who says he was in my Company of Regular troops in the Army of the United States in the Revolutionary war and want some Certificate or assistance from me to establish the facts - the length of time that has rolled around since being forty-one years and having nothing but my recollection to help me in this case I cannot say much but Sir what I can say I will say with pleasure and from the best recollection I have I am strongly pressed with the opinion that there was a man in my Company by the name of Benjamin Wilkerson and that he must have been enlisted sometime in the spring of the year 77 that being the year that I was in the Army - and after my resignation a Captain H. Dudley a distant relation of mine had the command of the company and they were marched to the North to join the main Army these troops were enlisted for 3 years and did belong to the 2nd Virginia Regiment of Continental troops.Three pieces of evidence in this letter assist in proving the case that Dudley's time of service was in 1776 and 1777. The first two are rather obvious and sufficiently prove the point, but the third piece of evidence adds some additional information which helps to fill the gaps nicely. First, Dudley refers to the events in question as having occurred forty-one years before his letter of 1818, or in other words, in 1777. Second, Dudley specifically states that 1777 was "the year that I was in the Army." Third, Dudley mentions that a distant relative of his had taken over for him after his resignation, a Captain H. Dudley. Heitman lists a Henry Dudley who served as Captain in the Virginia State Regiment from October 15, 1777 to January 1, 1780.
Yours Respectfully
S/ Ambrose DudleyJohn Darnaby's application for pension also provides helpful information toward ascertaining more precisely when Captain Dudley's service began and ended. Darnaby states that he enlisted in the Spring of 1776 "with Captain Ambrose Dudley, and served in the 2nd Regiment of the State of Virginia Line, under Captain Ambrose Dudley." Darnaby, who was previously shown to be a carpenter apprentice of Dudley beginning on September 14, 1774, seems to distinguish between enlisting "with Captain Dudley" and serving "under Captain Ambrose Dudley." This most likely indicates that the master and the apprentice joined the army together in the Spring of 1776. We also know the approximate time of Dudley's resignation from the army due to information provided by Darnaby. After a total of approximately twelve months of service, ten of which were served while stationed in Williamsburg, Darnaby was forced to leave his company when he took a fever and was placed in the hospital. When he had recovered enough to return to service in the Fall of 1777, Dudley had already resigned. It would therefore seem conclusive that Ambrose Dudley served as Captain of a company in the 2nd Virginia line of the Continental Army from the Spring of 1776 through, no later than, the Fall of 1777. There is not any evidence that Dudley's company experienced combat during his time in command.
Conversion and Call to Ministry
At some point in 1776 or 1777 while stationed in Williamsburg, Ambrose Dudley became "deeply impressed with his ruined condition as a sinner, being brought to feel that he had been all his life in an attitude of rebellion against an infinitely higher power than the King of England, - even the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords." James B. Taylor records the incident in the following terms:
During the early part of the revolution, he was commissioned to some office in the army, and while absent from home, his heart was pierced by the arrows of truth. He saw that he had all his days been waging war against his almighty sovereign, and in deep humiliation he cast himself before the throne, pleading for mercy. He was heard; his iniquities were forgiven; he became a loyal subject, and avowed his subjection by being baptized, according to the direction of his king.
Each of these early accounts makes a not so subtle play on words regarding Dudley's involvement in the war against the King of England and his realization that in his sinful state he was also at war against the King of all creation. His conversion brought him into subjection to a higher power than King George III. Dudley's conversion experience would have brought a remarkable change in his life, since before he left on the march to Williamsburg "he was not only openly immoral, but it was understood that he was inclined to infidel opinions." This would have meant that Dudley was known, not only for his wicked lifestyle, but that he also held to agnostic, and perhaps even atheistic views.
What or who were the instruments of Dudley's conversion to Christianity? William Pratt, who had personal communication with Dudley's son Thomas, indicates that Dudley heard Lewis Craig and John Shackleford preach through the prison bars in Williamsburg at which hearing he "was convicted of sin and led to the foot of the cross, where he found peace in believing in the ability and willingness of Christ to save." These men, along with other Baptists, were often imprisoned for their preaching as "disturbers of the peace." By labeling Baptist preachers as "disturbers of the peace," they were able to be persecuted even though their preaching was not technically illegal. Semple provides one example of how these preachers might be accused. The lawyer would say to the court: "May it please your worships, these men are great disturbers of the peace; they cannot meet a man upon the road, but they must ram a text of Scripture down his throat." While there is no record of a Craig or Shackleford imprisonment in Williamsburg in 1776 or 1777, it is not impossible. One account does survive of an imprisonment with Lewis Craig and four others (John Waller, James Reed, James Chiles and William Mash) in Fredericksburg a decade earlier in June of 1768. Not only does this account illustrate the manner in which Dudley may have heard the gospel ten years later in Williamsburg, but since it occurred in Dudley's hometown it may also be an early instance of his exposure to the preaching of the Baptists.
After Craig and his four companions were sentenced, they were marched from the court to the Spotslyvania County gaol. As they walked through the streets of Fredericksburg they sang the Isaac Watts (1674-1748) hymn, "Broad is the Road":
Broad is the road that leads to death,
And thousands walk together there;
But wisdom shows a narrower path,
With here and there a traveler."Deny thyself, and take thy cross,"
Is the Redeemer's great command;
Nature must count her gold but dross,
If she would gain this heav'nly land.The fearful soul that tires and faints,
And walks the ways of God no more,
Is but esteemed almost a saint,
And makes his own destruction sure.Lord, let not all my hopes be vain
Create my heart entirely new;
Which hypocrites could ne'er attain,
Which false apostates never knew.Could Dudley have heard these convicting lyrics as a sixteen-year-old boy? If so, it seems certain that he could never have forgotten the haunting words sang by these joyful "disturbers of the peace." The prison bars did not stop these preachers from their preaching. Little cites Morgan Edwards record of their deportment while in the Fredericksburg jail:
During their stay they preached thro' the bars & were means of making very serious impressions on the minds of 11 heads of families and some of their domesticks with many others. The populace did everything they could invent to keep the people off and to plague the prisoners, till at last they let the prisoners out in order to get rid of them.
In a similar manner, Dudley must have heard the preaching of Lewis Craig and John Shackleford through the prison bars in Williamsburg in mid-1777. The words coming out of the jail window were, what James B. Taylor called, "the arrows of truth" which pierced the heart of this military man in his mid-twenties. Dudley was not ashamed to be identified with the persecuted minority of Baptists as he subsequently submitted to the public demonstration of his new faith in Christ by being immersed. James Welch records the bold response of Ambrose Dudley to the preaching of these prisoners.
This conviction of his sinfulness was succeeded by a truly penitent and contrite spirit, associated with joy and peace in believing. He was, at this time, in command of his company, and stationed at Williamsburg; and, notwithstanding his circumstances seemed most adverse both to the culture of religion, and to a public profession of it, he had too much firmness of purpose to yield to the influence of circumstances in so momentous a concern. He therefore publicly declared himself on the Lord's side, by being baptized at Williamsburg; and, if I mistake not, it was done in the presence of the company he commanded, and of some of his fellow officers of the army.
This remarkable expression of humility and boldness undoubtedly made an impression upon his company, as also would his subsequent resignation of his position of Captain in the Continental Army. Evidently Dudley wanted to make a complete break with his life prior to his conversion. It was also around this time (September 1777) that Ambrose's older brother, Robert, was killed in the Battle of Brandywine. Though this fact is not mentioned in any of the nineteenth-century biographical sketches, it may have been another factor in his decision to resign from the military and even his sudden soberness regarding his spiritual state. There may also have been a responsibility to return home and take care of family affairs as he assumed the role of the eldest surviving brother.
After Dudley's conversion to Christianity and resignation from his station in the army, he returned home to Spotsylvania County. He seemed to immediately sense that he was called to preach the gospel of Christ. Thomas P. Dudley (1792-1880), who would succeed his father as the pastor of Bryan's Station in 1825, related to William M. Pratt that before his father's return home one of the churches near his home had been praying for God to supply them with a preacher.
It is an interesting fact, communicated to me by his son, Elder Thomas P. Dudley, that the church in Spottsylvania, where he lived, had a special meeting for prayer that God would send them a preacher. This prayer was answered. He returned to them as a candidate for baptism and membership and with the impression of duty to preach the gospel. He resigned as officer of the army, entered the Christian ministry and was faithful to this high and holy calling until removed from earth. John Shackleford and Lewis Craig ordained him in Virginia.
There is a slight contradiction in this account from Pratt and Welch's description of the circumstances of Dudley's baptism. Pratt has Dudley being baptized upon his return to Spotsylvania, while Welch is very specific in describing Dudley as being baptized in Williamsburg in the presence of his company. Pratt's account, while later, relies upon the testimony of Dudley's son. Welch's account has the kind of specificity that sounds like something he might have heard Dudley himself refer to in his preaching as he recalled his conversion experience and the details seem unlikely to be made up. Could this be an evidence of some redaction history by Pratt in order to safeguard the validity of Ambrose Dudley's baptism in the Landmark climate of the day? Or, perhaps James Welch, like some preachers today, was simply creative in his telling of Dudley's story. Regardless, Dudley was baptized as a believer and subsequently ordained to gospel ministry. The ordination would have occurred by 1778 since the Bryan's Station church book records that when Dudley died he was in "about the 47th year of his ministerial labour." For the next several years, Dudley served as pastor of a Baptist church in Spotsylvania County. Robert M. Semple indicates that Dudley preached in the neighborhood of Massaponax in Fredericksburg prior to 1785.
Move to Kentucke
On a Sunday morning in September of 1781, Ambrose Dudley was present to say his farewell to his friends Lewis Craig and William Ellis, who along with virtually the entire Upper Spotsylvania Baptist Church were to set out for Kentucky on the next day. The pilgrimage of this "travelling church" has been well documented by the historian George W. Ranck. Most of this church planned to settle "in the neighborhood of Logan's Fort in the Dick's River region of Kentucky." A smaller number located "a few miles east of Lexington." Although Dudley would remain in Virginia on this autumn day, he would eventually follow the minority to the Lexington area. As early as 1780, Dudley already owned property on the Elkhorn Creek in the vicinity. A deed for 250 acres neighboring a piece of property in the name of Lewis Craig was entered in Dudley's name on May 22, 1780. It is unclear whether Dudley had already made a scouting trip himself at this early date or if someone had claimed the land for him. Lewis Craig filed for 1,000 acres in the same area on the same day, along with dozens of other properties around the same date. Perhaps Craig filed Dudley's initial claim for land in Kentucky on behalf of his friend.
The first record showing that Ambrose Dudley was settled in Kentucky occurs on the third Saturday of May 1786 when he was received into union of the Particular Baptist Church at Bryan's Station. Ambrose and his wife Ann had sold 375 1/2 acres in Spotsylvania County to a William McWilliams on March 1, 1786. Therefore, the Dudleys' journey to Kentucky must have occurred between March 1, 1786 and May 20, 1786 (the third Saturday). Ambrose s younger brother William would have traveled with him, his wife Ann, and their seven children aged twelve and under. He would also have brought with him approximately ten slaves. In 1783, an Ambrose Dudley of Spotsylvania County was listed with 10 slaves. Then again in the 1787 Fayette County Tax List, Dudley listed 10 slaves. If there were ten, that would bring the total number in the Dudley party to twenty individuals, plus livestock and personal possessions.
Arriving in Kentucky, Dudley and his family settled about two miles above Bryan Station on a plantation of 1,010 acres. James Welch, who knew Dudley personally, writes that once Dudley settled "near Bryan's Station, in the vicinity of Lexington," that he did not change his place of residence until he moved to the "house appointed for all living." Dudley apparently raised tobacco on his plantation for he was one of a number of signers of a petition in 1787 asking the General Assembly of Virginia for a tobacco inspection site to be located on the north side of the Kentucky River at the mouth of Hickman Creek. The Baptists who settled from Virginia "were fairly well-to-do, many arriving with slaves to help till the land." Dudley, as was shown above, brought ten slaves with him from Virginia. That number, however, steadily increased over the next couple of decades. By 1803, 18 were listed as his property on the tax form and by the 1810 census there were 24 slaves were listed. Paradoxically, like many others of the period, Dudley seems to have been opposed to slavery in principle. He was part of the committee that drafted the memorial on slavery and religious liberty for the Elkhorn Association in 1791. Nevertheless, economics must have driven Dudley, like many of his fellow Baptists in the South, to forsake principle for the sake of prosperity.
Bryan's Station Baptist Church
After joining the church at Bryan's Station in the May 1786 church meeting, Dudley was chosen as moderator for the church meeting in July. Once again Dudley's leadership qualities caused him to rise to the top. In August, he was nominated to become the first pastor and on the 22nd of October, Dudley was unanimously voted in as pastor. He would stay in this charge until his earthly labors ended on January 27, 1825. "Few men have ever laboured in the West with greater success than he," wrote James Welch of Dudley's ministry in Kentucky.
Bryan's Station was one of the first permanent English settlements in Fayette County. It was founded by four Bryant (or Bryan) brothers from North Carolina in 1779. Fayette County was still wilderness at the time, being first explored by English speakers in 1774 and 1775. Conflict with the Indians was common. In fact, one of the key founders, William Bryan, was killed when his hunting party was ambushed by Indians around May 20, 1780. Virginia Webb Howard notes the danger that the early settlers faced from the threat of Indians.
The men could not safely plant the crops, nor could the women milk the cows, except under the protection of armed guards who stood ready to ward off surprise attacks of the Indians who were always alert for an opportunity to kill and scalp the white settlers and burn their homes. Women and children were often captured and carried away by wandering bands of Indians who seemed to be always roaming the forests.
After a year marked by intense fighting with the Indians in 1782, the threat had largely dissipated by the Spring of 1783 and the settlers were able to leave the fort and go to live on their own lands. Nevertheless, "for years after that, the torch and the tomahawk of the predatory savage brought ruin to many an isolated cabin." During these early years religious services had been held in the station, but a church was not organized until April 15, 1786 when the "Particular Baptist Church, Bryan's" was established at the fort. The church was organized by Lewis and Benjamin Craig from the South Elkhorn Baptist Church, along with William Cave and Bartlette Collins from the Big Crossing Baptist Church. As already noted above, Dudley had arrived by the next month.
During Dudley's nearly thirty-nine years at Bryan's Station his ministry experienced great success. Spencer summarizes something of the scope of his ministry at Bryan's Station in the following words:
He was always prominent among the pioneer preachers of Kentucky. His fine natural gifts, his superior education, and his clear, practical judgment made him a leader in the business affairs of the churches and associations. He was a preacher of much zeal, but his zeal was tempered by wisdom. He was often moderator of the two associations of which his church was a member at different periods, and was one of the committee that arranged the terms of general union between the Regular and Separate Baptists of Kentucky, in 1801. From the time he came to Kentucky, in 1786, till 1808, few preachers in the State baptized more people than he.Throughout the 1790s, Bryans Station was either the second or third largest church in the Elkhorn Association in their total membership. However, during the "Great Revival" in 1800-1801 the already sizeable congregation which numbered 170 in August of 1800, more than tripled by the addition of 406 members. 367 converts were baptized at Bryan's Station during this one year. As a point of contrast, the church had baptized only one during the previous year. Welch provides his own eyewitness testimony of seeing two of Dudley's extraordinary baptismal services that year: "I saw him baptize, on one occasion, fifty-eight persons at David's Fork; and the following Sabbath he baptized sixty-eight at Bryan's Station, only six miles distant." Another eyewitness, Robert B. McAfee, wrote in his autobiographical account that "i was at Bryants station when the Revd. Ambrose Dudley Senr Baptized fifty three persons in one day." As a result of this explosion in numerical growth, the church released 294 of its membership to constitute the David's Fork on August 26, 1801. The Bryan's Station church had held meetings on a rotating basis at a meeting house at David's Fork for the previous fifteen years with Dudley preaching there and at Bryan's Station on an alternating schedule. But now these became two separate congregations. Dudley served both churches as pastor until 1806 when he resigned from the David's Fork congregation to provide pastoral care exclusively for the mother church. One evidence of his busy schedule is that in the thirteen years between 1802 and 1814, Dudley performed 135 marriages, an average of just over 10 a year. This was but one small facet of his ministry, but represents the kind of time commitment that shepherding a congregation of over two hundred requires. In 1809, due to a dispute within the Elkhorn Association, the Bryan's Station Church split with a minority remaining within the Elkhorn and the majority following Dudley into the Licking Association where he would serve as the moderator for the remainder of his life.Dudley's Preaching
Ambrose Dudley was evidently a powerful preacher of the gospel. He was described by a contemporary as "a good natural orator, warm and affectionate in preaching." Spencer called him "a preacher of much zeal, but ... tempered by wisdom." A remarkable description of the impact of his preaching survives in the diary of Mary Beckley Bristow. Her detailed account as a forty-nine year old of her memory of a sermon which she heard when she was a girl of only eight provides a glimpse into what it must have been like to hear Dudley preach.
The first serious impressions made on my mind that I have any recollections of were produced by hearing old Father Ambrose Dudley preach the funeral sermon of Aunt Sally, Uncle James Clarkson's first wife, and upon examining the date of her death, I find that I was then in my eighth year. This sermon must have made a deep impression on my young mind, for though so many years have elapsed, I have a perfect recollection of his appearance, the solemnity of his manner, the place where he stood in my Grandfather's house. It seems I can almost hear the sound of his pleasant voice this quiet morning, as he repeated his text, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." I remember he exalted the character of God, and one expression of his I shall not forget until memory becomes extinct. It was this, "Oh, Eternity, Eternity, awful, solemn thought! If a little bird was to come once a year and take one grain of sand away until every grain on earth was gone, eternity would be just begun." So great was the awe inspired in my mind by those solemn words that I trembled from head to foot. Nor was the impression lost for years, but often when I would find myself alone, if that solemn word, eternity, came into my mind, I would immediately run to find company. From that time I was subject to deeply serious impressions, particularly if I heard of the death of anyone near my own age. As I had been sickly from my birth, I greatly feared death and the lonely grave, and worse than either that dread eternity beyond. As I grew up my health improved a little, and I was beginning to enjoy the world, forgetful of eternity.This striking testimony highlights the fervent method of Dudley as a preacher of the gospel. It bears out what the frontier missionary James Welch said of his preaching: "No one who heard him could doubt that he was deeply impressed with the truths which he delivered, and that the grand object at which he constantly aimed, was not to gain the applause of his hearers, but to save their souls."Dudley's Doctrine
As for the content of Dudley's preaching, he was known for his proclamation of the doctrines of God's sovereign grace, or Calvinism. In the minutes for the February 1825 church meeting, the first since Dudley's passing on January 27th, Dudley is described as having "served this church for near thirty-nine years, during which time he zealously and undeviatingly maintained the Doctrine of Special Grace as held forth in her Church Covenant." This is undoubtedly a reference to Article 5 in the doctrinal statement from the Church Covenant which states:
We fully believe the great doctrine of particular redemption, personal election, effectual calling, justification by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, pardon of sin by his atoneing blood, believers baptized by immersion, the final perseverance of the saints, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.Dudley himself was involved in the writing of this statement. When the church was constituted in March of 1786 they had simply adopted the Philadelphia Confession of Faith "as the best human Composition of the Kind and Contains a summary of the articles of our Faith, particulary [sic.] we Receive what is generally termed the Doctrine of Grace as they are therein contained." Twelve and a half years later the congregation apparently felt the need for a more concise statement of faith and practice. Accordingly, in the church meeting held in October of 1798 a committee of five men was appointed to revise their Church Covenant. The Committee was made up of Ambrose Dudley, Leonard Young, Bartlett Collins, Henry Roach, and John Mason. The revised Church Covenant was summarily adopted by the church in December of 1798. This document included six expansive points of doctrine which were seen as summaries of the doctrine "contained at large in the Philadelphia Confession of faith," along with the rules for church government normally contained in a church covenant. Thus, Dudley clearly identified himself with the theologically robust Calvinism found in the Philadelphia Confession of Faith of 1742. Given Dudley's role in the composition of his church's summary of their confessional statement, that document can be examined for a fuller understanding of his beliefs. Dudley also assisted in crafting another confessional statement which can likewise be seen as indicative of his doctrinal commitments. This document consisting of twelve concise creedal statements was adopted in September 1812 by the fledgling Licking Association which Dudley was instrumental in starting in 1810. These statements were drawn up by Dudley along with the association's clerk, John Price.The churches composing the Licking association are united as brethren upon the doctrines of grace contained in the Scriptures of the old and new testament, an abstract of which is as follows -
1st We believe in one true and living God, and that there are three persons in the Godhead - The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and that these three are one.
2. We believe that the Scriptures of the old & new testament are the word of God, and the rule of Faith & practice.
3. We believe in the doctrine of Eternal, particular, unconditional election.
4. We believe in particular redemption by Jesus Christ.
5. We believe in the doctrine of Original Sin.
6. We believe in the uter [sic] inability of man to save him self [sic], either in whole or in part.
7. We believe that sinners are Justified in the sight of God by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.
8. We believe that God's elect shall be called with a holy calling, regenerated, converted & sanctified in time.
9. We believe that the saints shall persevere in grace and never fall finally away.
10. We believe that baptism and the Lord's supper are ordinances of Jesus Christ, and that true believers are the subjects of these ordinances & that the mode of baptism is by immersion.
11. We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment, and that the punishment of the wicked will be eternal.
12. We believe that no person has the right to administer the ordinances, only such as are regularly called and come under the imposition of the hands of the Presbytery.
In this confession of faith, Dudley affirms his commitment to the doctrines of the Trinity, the authority of Scriptures, the five points of Calvinism, the imputation of Christ's righteousness in justification, baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper, the final judgment, and the necessity of ordained persons administering the ordinances. Together these two confessional statements, to which Dudley not only assented but helped craft, serve as reliable evidence of where Dudley stood on the great doctrines of the faith.
Dudley not only proclaimed the doctrines of grace, he was also an ardent defender of these doctrines. One example of this is found in a biography of the pioneer Disciples of Christ preacher "Racoon" John Smith by John Augustus Williams. Williams describes the preaching of Dudley to "a large concourse of people" at Grassy Lick where a number were being led into embracing the Campbellite teaching through John Smith's preaching. Dudley made "a pleasing and powerful argument" to the effect that the crowd was "deeply impressed with the reasonableness of the Calvninian theory." The leaders among the Campbellites became worried at the success with which Dudley refuted their teaching. Williams described the substance of Dudley's discourse at some length:
He argued that obedience to any physical law presupposes physical life. The plant, for instance, that unfolds its leaves in the light of spring, obeys a vegetable law by the power of a vegetable life, previously imparted. A dead tree puts forth no leaf, or blossom - it can obey no law. In the animal world, also, there are certain physiological laws which each living creature obeys - not by the energy of a vegetable, but of an animal life. Obedience, therefore, does not confer life: the animal must first be made alive, before it can begin to obey. It is so in the spiritual world; there must be spiritual life, before there can be obedience to spiritual law. For argument's sake, indeed, it might be admitted that life is afterward enjoyed only so long as the quickened man continues to obey; but the first act of obedience, whether it be to repent or to believe, is impossible until life is given by the Spirit of God.After summarizing a portion of Dudley's address, Williams then seems to quote him directly in the following:"How absurd, then," he concluded, "is the doctrine of some, that the gift of life is conditioned on an act of obedience! Rather is obedience conditioned, in the very nature of things, on the previous gift of life. Without life imparted by the Holy Spirit, then, it would be impossible, not only to obey, but even to understand the law.
"Yea, though I were to read and ponder the Word for a hundred years," said he, "I would not, at the end of that time, unless quickened by the Holy Ghost, have any more knowledge of its meaning, or ability to obey it, than my horse hitched to yonder tree."
Even Williams' unsympathetic recounting of Dudley's teaching on man's total inability demonstrates how effective his impassioned rhetoric must have been. No wonder so many, as Williams regretfully acknowledged, were influenced by his discourse.
Clearly, Dudley was an ardent Calvinist who was passionate about defending the doctrines of grace against any who would seek to denigrate them. Nevertheless, despite his strong personal convictions on Calvinism, Dudley was one of those who served on a committee which drafted Terms of Union between Regular and Separate Kentucky Baptists in 1801. Amidst this list of doctrinal and practical agreements, one doctrinal disagreement was allowed. The ninth of the eleven "Terms of Union" stated "that the preaching that Christ tasted death for every man, shall be no bar to communion." This meant that a particular church's position on the extent of the atonement would not be considered a cause for division among these two bodies of Baptists. Dudley's role in drafting such a statement demonstrates his willingness to cooperate with otherwise orthodox bodies of believers whenever possible.
Dudley and Missions
One final question to consider is Dudley's attitude toward the fledgling mission board movement in America during the early part of the nineteenth century. The Licking Association, as opposed to the Kehukee Association in North Carolina, is considered by some to be the founding association of the Primitive Baptist movement in America. This movement was known for its hyper-Calvinism and opposition to organized mission agencies. It is certainly true that by 1873 Thomas P. Dudley, Ambrose's son and successor as both pastor at Bryan Station and moderator of the Licking Association, had come to regard Luther Rice, representative of the Baptist Board for Foreign Missions, as having "drugged to intoxication" the Elkhorn Association through "the poison of missionism." Nevertheless, the relationship between the elder Dudley and Rice seems to have been one of mutual respect. In 1814 the Licking Association responded to materials containing information about the new missionary endeavors received from Rice. They agreed to repay Rice for the cost of the pamphlets, but to "not join the missionary business in its present form." Dudley was instructed to write "a friendly letter" on behalf of the association to Rice informing him of the decision. In the very next year, Rice was traveling in Kentucky and "spent a Sabbath" in Dudley's home and could refer to his host as "that venerable father in the ministry ... whose praise has long been in the churches in that quarter." It was perhaps at this same time that Luther Rice was present at the annual meeting of the Licking Association held on the second weekend of September. Rice preached one of the sermons during the meeting and although once again the association did not enter into support of the mission board, they did express "their thanks - to their respected brothers of the board of foreign missions, for their attention towards us, and that we will chearfully [sic.] send them A copy of our minutes annually." In fact, there were not any noteworthy theological differences between the Licking Association and the other Baptist associations in Kentucky during the earliest years of its existence. The twentieth century historian of Kentucky Baptists, Frank Masters, wrote quite confidently that: "The Licking Association - did not differ in doctrine nor polity from surrounding associations, during the first five years of its existence. There was no difference in doctrine from Elkhorn."
Though he might not have been fully on board with the establishment of missionary boards, Dudley's actions speak for themselves. Throughout his ministry, Dudley was instrumental in establishing a number of churches in Kentucky. In 1791, Dudley had hazarded the dangers of the wilderness to travel, along with John Taylor, nearly two hundred miles on horseback to establish the Red River Church, the first Baptist church in middle Tennessee. Clearly, one involved in such activity could not be opposed to the idea of missions, whatever he might have thought about the propriety of mission boards. Thus, it seems more likely to conclude that Dudley was undecided about the merits of the American Board for Foreign Missions, which was just beginning in the last decade of his life. While after his father's death Thomas would become a vocal opponent of the mission board movement, Ambrose remained charitable though unconvinced during his lifetime. The Licking Association's report to Luther Rice in 1815 no doubt accurately reflected Dudley's own "wait and see" approach to this question when it stated that they did "hope that God in his providence will open A door for the entrance of the Gospel among the heathen of our own country, when we trust we shall be willing to attend to this business as may then appear best to us."
Conclusion
Ambrose Dudley died rather suddenly on January 27, 1825 after a short 24 hour illness at the home of his son, the eminent physician Benjamin W. Dudley, in Lexington. He had presided over the monthly church meeting less than two weeks prior. The church which he had served so faithfully for almost forty years lamented the "melancholy event" of their pastor's death in the following words:
The Death of our much beloved and lamented Brother and Pastor Ambrose Dudley, who departed this life on the 27th day of January 1825 after about 24 hours illness, in the 73rd year of his age and about the 47th year of his ministerial labour; and who has served this Church for near thirty nine years, during which time he zealously and undeviatingly maintained the Doctrines of Special Grace as held forth in her Church Covenant.J. H. Spencer well summarized the end of this faithful man of God: "He continued to labor faithfully - till the Lord called him to the better country." Having responded to the call of the Lord Jesus Christ while serving as a Captain in the Continental Army so many years before, Dudley never resigned from that calling to gospel ministry until the heavenly commanding officer at last called His faithful servant home.======== [This essay is in the Particular Baptist Press publications, The Noble Company Series, volume 5, chapter 5. Used with permission. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]More on the Dudleys
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