Reuben Ross was by far the most prominent minister, who was in the constitution of Bethel Association. He was of Scotch extraction, and was born of pious Baptisl parents, in Martin Co., N. C., May 9, 1776. His opportunities for acquiring an education were very limited indeed. He attended school only nine months, his only school books being Dillworth's spelling book and the Psalter. But his mind was strong and active, and he made diligent use of the means within his reach, for its improvement. At the age of 22, he was married to Mildred Yarrell, who afterwards sought and obtained hope in
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Christ. Her husband, being passionately fond of dancing, opposed her uniting with the church. However she went forward in discharge of her duty, and soon after her baptism, the Lord found way to his heart. After a long struggle, he obtained hope in Christ, and, at the age of 26 years, was baptized by Luke Ward. Shortly afterwards, he was much impressed with a sense of its being his duty to preach the gospel. Regarding himself unqualified for this work, he engaged in merchandising, with the hope of securing the means of preparing himself for the ministry. In this enterprise he utterly failed. In 1807, he was ordained to the ministry, by Joseph Biggs, Luke Ward and James Ross; and, in May of the same year, started to move to the West. On the 4th of July, he reached Port Royal, in Montgomery county, Tennessee, where he preached his first sermon west of the Mountains, under the branches of a tree. Here he taught school three months, having united with Red River church. In 1808, he settled on Spring creek, in the same county, where he and his wife entered into the constitution of a church which was styled Spring Creek of West Fork. He was immediately chosen pastor of this congregation, and continued to serve it in that capacity, nearly thirty years.
In his early ministry, Dr. Samuel Baker informs us, Mr. Ross preached the doctrine held by the Regular Baptists of North Carolina. He believed in what they termed a limited atonement; that Christ died for the elect only, and that to them alone the gospel was to be preached; not as a means of converting sinners, but merely to comfort and encourage God's chosen and redeemed people. Accordingly, he dwelt chiefly on the consolatory topics of the Bible. His views corresponded with those of most of the preachers and churches in Red River Association, with which he became connected when he moved to the West. But his active mind soon led him to change his doctrinal views, and he began to preach the gospel to sinners, warning all to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. At this time he had become the most popular and influential preacher in the Association. Many church members and several preachers received what others regarded his heretical doctrine, and it began to be preached by others, as well as by himself. This led to much disputing and dissatisfaction among the churches, and especially among the older preachers.
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As early as 1812, Mr. Ross preached the introductory sermon before the Association, and, at the same meeting, was elected Moderator of that body, a position which he filled on eight subsequent occasions. "In 1823," says Dr. Baker, "certain leading spirits attempted to secure from the Association, a condemnation of the teachings of Elder Ross." This object was defeated, and a peaceable divlsion of the Association was afterwards agreed upon. The constititution of Bethel Association was the result. Mr. Ross was chosen Moderator or this body, at the time of its organization, in 1825, and contiinued to fill that office, till 1851, when the infirmities of age prompted him to resign. We again quote from Dr. Baker's address on the Life and Times of Reuben Ross: "The wide influence which he secured by his great powers of expounding the Sctiptures seemed like a magic charm. As a preacher, he was devout, earnest and solemn. His enunciation was peculiarly dignified, and his expositions, his expostulations, his entreaties and his appeals were framed after the best models of those good men who, in primitive times, declared in our own tongue, the wonderful work of God. With an untiring hand, for almost 40 years, he bore the ark of God in the darkened corners of Logan, Todd, and Christian counties in Kentucky, and Robertson, Montgomery and Stewart counties in Tennessee; and wherever the ark rested there was a blessing from the Lord."Mr. Ross contitinued to labor according to his strength, to a ripe old age. In 1859, Bethel Association ordered his portrait painted, and a copy of it placed in each of Bethel College and Bethel Female College. The work was accomplished, and, befote the next meeting of the Association, the venerable soldier of the cross was called to his final reward. The esteem in which he was held may be inferred from the followmg extract from the minutes of Bethel Association of 1860: "At this time it was announced that the life-size photograph portrait of Elder Reuben Ross, deceased, ordered by last Association, and to be placed in Bethel College, had been received. It was brought in and placed on a table in front of the audience, with an open Bible before it. No circumstance ever occurred that produced such a thrilling sensation in Bethel Association. The Association was bathed in tears as they gazed
[p. 369]on the life-like portrait and were so vividly reminded of the faithful labors and toils of him who was indeed the father of the Association . . . Tru1y the sobs and tears of the messengers testified that the righteous are held in everlasting remembrance."The one fault msnifest in this good and great man, as a public teacher, was his failure to enforce the peculiar principles of his denomination. When the teaching of Alexander Campbell made their first inroads in Bethel Association, causing so much distress and confusion among the churches, he was silent in regard to the pernicious heresy, and left it to men of much less influence to guard the churches against its baleful effects. A consequence of this weakness was that many of his posterity became Campbellites, or joined other denominations than that of their eminent and godly ancestor. ============== [From J. H. Spencer, A History of Kentucky Baptists, Vol. II, 1885; rpt. 1984, pp. 366-369. - jrd]
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