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Nec Gladio, Nec Arcu

1/22/2014

9 Comments

 
Picture
You are my King and my God,

    who decrees victories for Jacob.

Through you we push back our enemies;

    through your name we trample our foes.

I put no trust in my bow,

    my sword does not bring me victory;

but you give us victory over our enemies,

    you put our adversaries to shame.

In God we make our boast all day long,

    and we will praise your name forever.

Psalm 44:4-8



Ever since I was a child, my dad has had the above plaque hanging in our house, which contains the Dudley family coat of arms. The latin family motto inscribed at the bottom reads “Nec gladio, nec arcu.” I took it upon myself one day as a teenager to translate it from Latin, and discovered it means, “Neither Sword Nor Bow.” For the longest time I had no idea what that meant (were we supposed to be pacifists or something?), until one day I was reading the Bible and came across Psalm 44:4-8 (above).


Spending time with my grandmother (my dad’s mom) this Christmas was a good reminder to me of some of my family’s personal history. She’s been into family genealogy research for many years now, and because I’m something of a history nerd, I’ve actually found a lot of her research very interesting. We can trace our family line back through the Civil War, where some of our relatives were buried north of Atlanta, through to Thomas Dudley, one of the governors of the Massachusetts Bay Colony,  all the way to pre-Elizabethan England, where Dudley Castle was owned by several prominent nobles, notably John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, who led an unsuccessful attempt to install Lady Jane Grey on the throne of England. Even though you’re probably yawning about these people, to me understanding where my family comes from gives me a special sense of purpose, and helps me see that I’m just one tiny link in a generations-long chain of people which will continue to extend for centuries after I’m gone.
If I were ever to entertain the idea of getting something permanently tattooed on my body, that crest is about the only thing to which I’ve ever given any serious thought. Those verses, and my family crest, are both tremendous sources of inspiration to me.

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about how he pleaded with God to remove a terrible thorn from his flesh which he found too debilitating to ignore. God’s response was the famous phrase, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Weakness is a powerful tool in God’s hand. As the Psalmist says, I put no trust in my physical strength or material assets, because these things are not the source of my salvation. God alone delivers victory and pushes back our foes for us. My first challenge for you today is simply this: What are you putting your trust in? Is there anything in your life which has eclipsed God as your source of security?

Second, as I mentioned in my previous post, I’m planning to write a heavy piece on the importance of remembering where God has brought you from. This is yet another reminder to me that God has a tremendously detailed plan for my life which has been literally centuries in the making. If you’re not familiar with your own family history, I highly recommend you take just a few minutes this week to reconnect with your parents or grandparents and ask them a little bit about the family tree. I’ve discovered that learning even just a little bit about the generations that came before you can have a powerful effect on your sense of purpose in life.

God didn’t bring you this far by accident. He’s been planning your life for over a dozen generations. Put your trust in Him, because he alone can deliver you to the great destiny he has in store for you.
9 Comments
Donald Dudley
1/22/2014 08:42:06 am

Thank you John-Rick. It is good to see our family crest and the real reason we have hope and a fabulous future. Lov u Dad

Reply
melissa gatewood
6/18/2014 05:02:36 am

Hello, I am descended from Dorothy Dudely who married Henry Gatewood. My mother line ,I changed my last name to Grandmother Ethel Gatewood's birth name, Gatewood. Rather interesting to learn about it although many years ago my Grandma's sister wrote a book about our ancestry. So before internet I was told about the connection with the early settlers in Virginia and there blood royal descendants of the Plantagenet and Charlemayne etc.. Interesting

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Annamarie Z Sunday
2/7/2014 07:13:14 pm

Good thoughts to meditate on today.

Reply
Don Levison
11/17/2014 05:23:21 pm

I have a great Swiss watch made in 1902 which appears to have the Dudley motto and coat of arms on the case back. I cannot attach a photo of it to this reply, but if you send me an email, I can attach it to an email and show it to you. Thank you. Don Levison
[email protected]

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John Dudley
7/14/2017 12:28:32 pm

Thank you for interpreting the words on the crest.
The crest / coat of arms you show is very similar to the one my father had made. I have tried to read some of the books on the Dudley name and heritage but, I need about a gallon of water to go with my reading as the books seem to be written in "Olde English" and hard to understand.

According to my father, we are related to Thomas Dudley in MA and earlier to John Dudley Duke of Northumberland. I have yet to find these facts and connect them to truth.

Reply
John-Rick Dudley
7/14/2017 01:44:05 pm

John,

Thank you for sharing, I too have had difficulty connecting Thomas Dudley with any of his English ancestors through my own (admittedly limited) research. It seems he was deliberately evasive about his lineage, probably because he was rumored to be a grandson of the 7th "Lord Quondam," a bankrupt noble who was forced to sell Dudley Castle to his cousin to save himself from debtor's prison. That kind of bad press could have prevented him from securing a royal charter to help found a colony.

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John-Rick
7/28/2017 05:39:59 am

According to my Father, there are plenty of horse traders and other nefarious people in our lineage. Also, if you Google Earth the Dudley Castle, they have turned it into a Zoo and you can take a "Virtual Tour" or the grounds.

Reply
Margaret Dudley the 7th
7/11/2019 03:13:09 pm

I stumbled across this page looking for the meaning of a Dudley coat of arms that my grandmother gave to me. Governor Edward Bishop Dudley is my great, great, great, great grandfather. Throughout the generations, there have been many Margaret Dudleys. I am the last one, since my husband was not fond of the name "Dudley." I have his portrait hanging in my bedroom and love it. He was a great man who gave up a large part of his wealth to help others and started the first railroad system in North Carolina. We, too, have tried to trace our ancestry back to the Dudley Castle, but there is a block we keep running into, so you explained that very well. It gets lost and confused somehow during the voyage to America. Most of Dudley's papers were destroyed in a fire in his home. That would have been very helpful, but fires were common back then. It was very meaningful to read what you wrote. God bless you and your Dudley family. And, yes, there were some scoundrels in our heritage, too. No one can escape that.

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Diane Dudley Polsby link
5/26/2024 01:02:15 pm

We’re descended from William Dudley who settled in Guilford, CT in 1636. (William,Joseph,William,Jared,Jared,Augustus Bartlett, Oscar Augustus, May Augustus, Lynn Bishop, Robert Meigs and finally me). I was also wondering what the family motto meant. So I read the Bible and found it mentioned in the story of Joshua and Jericho. If God is on your side, you cannot be defeated,

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    I'm J.R., a US Navy veteran and Linguist. This blog is devoted to insights and experiences I've gained over the years.

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