 William Ames was born in Ipswich, in England. His parents both died when he was young. Hwas educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he was tutored (and influenced greatly) by the venerable William Perkins. Christ's College was a stronghold of non-conformity, and the logic and philosophy of Peter Ramus, whose teachings on logic transformed English Puritan thinking from its Socratic moorings. Ames received his B. A. degree in 1598 and his M. A. in 1601. He was immediately elected a fellow of Christ's College.
William Ames was suspended from his ordination and stripped of his academic degrees for a sermon he preached against the card playing and dicing that were permitted by the Church of England during the 12 days of Christmas. After giving up his position as a teaching fellow, he accepted a call to pastor a church, but the Bishop of London rejected the request, and condemned Ames for preaching without permission. Ames went into a self-imposed exile in Holland, where many Puritans before and after him went for refuge. He became engaged there in the theological and political battle against Arminianism. He was also part of the Synod of Dort, which, in response to the remonstrants of the position held by James Arminius, came up with "the five points of Calvinism" (as opposed to the five points of theology being propogated by Arminius' followers).
His most famous work is his Marrow of Sacred Divinity, one of the first systematic theologies of the Puritans, and the standard textbook used at Harvard and Yale for at least 100 years. That work has been reprinted by Baker Book House in paperback. The other work for which Ames is known and regarded, his treatment of conscience, entitled Conscience, with the Power and Cases Thereof, was published in a hardbound facsimile by Walter Johnson, Inc. of New Jersey. That publisher is no longer in business, and copies are available on the used book market. (A helpful website for used books is www.BookSearch.com.) Samuel Elliot Morrison, a historian of things related to Harvard, wrote that Ames' Conscience, with the Power and Cases Thereof, is ". . . as a practical exposition of what the Word of God did and did not permit, one of the most valuable sources of Puritan morality."
William Ames was born in Ipswich, in England. His parents both died when he was young. Hwas educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he was tutored (and influenced greatly) by the venerable William Perkins. Christ's College was a stronghold of non-conformity, and the logic and philosophy of Peter Ramus, whose teachings on logic transformed English Puritan thinking from its Socratic moorings. Ames received his B. A. degree in 1598 and his M. A. in 1601. He was immediately elected a fellow of Christ's College.
William Ames was suspended from his ordination and stripped of his academic degrees for a sermon he preached against the card playing and dicing that were permitted by the Church of England during the 12 days of Christmas. After giving up his position as a teaching fellow, he accepted a call to pastor a church, but the Bishop of London rejected the request, and condemned Ames for preaching without permission. Ames went into a self-imposed exile in Holland, where many Puritans before and after him went for refuge. He became engaged there in the theological and political battle against Arminianism. He was also part of the Synod of Dort, which, in response to the remonstrants of the position held by James Arminius, came up with "the five points of Calvinism" (as opposed to the five points of theology being propogated by Arminius' followers).
His most famous work is his Marrow of Sacred Divinity, one of the first systematic theologies of the Puritans, and the standard textbook used at Harvard and Yale for at least 100 years. That work has been reprinted by Baker Book House in paperback. The other work for which Ames is known and regarded, his treatment of conscience, entitled Conscience, with the Power and Cases Thereof, was published in a hardbound facsimile by Walter Johnson, Inc. of New Jersey. That publisher is no longer in business, and copies are available on the used book market. (A helpful website for used books is www.BookSearch.com.) Samuel Elliot Morrison, a historian of things related to Harvard, wrote that Ames' Conscience, with the Power and Cases Thereof, is ". . . as a practical exposition of what the Word of God did and did not permit, one of the most valuable sources of Puritan morality." |
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