William Ames (1576 – 14 November 1633) was an English Protestant divine, philosopher, and controversialist. He spent much time in the Netherlands, and is noted for his involvement in the controversy between the Calvinists

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

 and the Arminians

Arminianism

Arminianism is a school of soteriological thought within Protestant Christianity based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic followers, the Remonstrants...

.

Early life and education

Ames was born at Ipswich

Ipswich

Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...

, and was brought up by a maternal uncle, Robert Snelling of Boxford

Boxford, Suffolk

Boxford is a large village and a civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. Located around six miles east of Sudbury straddling the River Box and skirted by the Holbrook, in 2005 it had a population of 1,270.-History:...

. He was educated at the local grammar school and from 1594 at Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...

. He was considerably influenced by his tutor at Christ's, William Perkins, and by his successor Paul Bayne. Ames graduated BA

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in 1598 and MA

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 in 1601, and was chosen for a fellow

Fellow

A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...

ship in Christ's College.

He was popular in the university, and in his own college. One of Ames's sermons became historical in the Puritan controversies. It was delivered in the university Church of St Mary the Great, Cambridge on 21 December 1609, and in it he rebuked sharply "lusory lotts" and the "heathenish debauchery" of the students during the Twelve Days of Christmas

Twelve Days of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning Christmas Day . This period is also known as Christmastide and Twelvetide. The Twelfth Night of Christmas is always on the evening of 5 January, but the Twelfth Day can either precede or follow the Twelfth Night according to which...

.

A partisan election, however, had led to the mastership at Christ's going to Valentine Carey. He quarrelled with Ames for disapproving of the surplice

Surplice

A surplice is a liturgical vestment of the Western Christian Church...

 and other outward symbols. Ames's vehemence led to his being summoned before the Vice-Chancellor, who suspended him "from the exercise of his ecclesiastical function and from all degrees taken or to be taken."

Ministry in Holland

He left Cambridge, and was offered a lecturer position at Colchester

Colchester

Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...

, but George Abbot

George Abbot (Archbishop of Canterbury)

George Abbot was an English divine and Archbishop of Canterbury. He also served as the fourth Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin, between 1612 and 1633....

, the Bishop of London

Bishop of London

The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...

, went against the wishes of the local corporation, and refused to grant institution and induction. Similar rebuffs awaited him elsewhere, and he travelled with Robert Parker

Robert Parker (minister)

Robert Parker English Puritan scholar and divine, who became minister of a separatist congregation in the Holland where he died while exiled for his heterodoxy. He was a descended from the Spencer family of Althorp, Northamptonshire...

 to the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, helped by English merchants who wished him to controvert the supporters of the English church in Leiden. At Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

, he debated with Grevinchovius (Nicholas Grevinckhoven, d. 1632), minister of the Arminian party, with reasoning from Phillipians ii. 13, "It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do." This dispute made his name in the Netherlands.

Subsequently Ames entered into a controversy in print with Grevinchovius on universal redemption and election, and cognate

Cognate

In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...

 problems. He brought together all he had maintained in his Coronis ad Collationem Hagiensem (A Finishing Touch to the Hague Conference)— his major book. At Leiden, Ames became intimate with Hugh Goodyear, pastor of the English church there. He was sent for to The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

 by Sir Horatio Vere, the English governor of Brill

Brielle

Brielle , also called Den Briel is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland, on the north side of the island of Voorne-Putten, at the mouth of the New Maas. The municipality covers an area of 31.12 km² of which 3.63 km² is water...

, who appointed him a minister in the army of the states-general, and of the English soldiers in their service. He married a daughter of Daniel Burgess, who was Vere's chaplain, and, on his father-in-law's return to England, succeeded to his place.

It was at this time he began his controversy with Simon Episcopius

Simon Episcopius

Simon Episcopius was a Dutch theologian and Remonstrant who played a significant role at the Synod of Dort in 1618...

, who, in attacking the Coronis, railed against the author as having been "a disturber of the public peace in his native country, so that the English magistrates had banished him thence; and now, by his late printed Coronis, he was raising new disturbances in the peaceable Netherlands." Episcopius was rebutted by Goodyear, who became a defender of Ames against the Remonstrants

Remonstrants

The Remonstrants are the Dutch Protestants who, after the death of Jacobus Arminius, maintained the views associated with his name. In 1610 they presented to the States of Holland and Friesland a remonstrance in five articles formulating their points of disagreement from Calvinism.-History:The five...

, and later provided Nethenus with material for his biography of Ames.

The Coronis had been primarily prepared for the Synod of Dort

Synod of Dort

The Synod of Dort was a National Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618-1619, by the Dutch Reformed Church, to settle a divisive controversy initiated by the rise of Arminianism. The first meeting was on November 13, 1618, and the final meeting, the 154th, was on May 9, 1619...

, which sat from 13 November 1618 until 9 May 1619. At this synod the position of Ames was anomalous. The High Church

High church

The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...

 party in England had induced Vere to dismiss him from the chaplaincy; but he was still held in reverence. It was arranged he should attend the synod, and he was retained by the Calvinist party at four florins a day to watch the proceedings. He was adviser to Johannes Bogerman, the synod's President.

Academic

A proposal to make him principal of a theological college at Leiden was frustrated by Archbishop Abbot; and when later invited by the state of Friesland

Friesland

Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...

 to a professoriate at Franeker

Franeker

Franeker is one of the eleven historical cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Franekeradeel. It is located about 20 km west of Leeuwarden on the Van Harinxma Canal. As of 1 January 2006, it had 12,996 inhabitants. The city is famous for the Eisinga Planetarium from around...

, the opposition was renewed, but this time abortively. He was installed at Franeker on May 7, 1622, and delivered a discourse on the occasion on Urim and Thummim

Urim and Thummim

In ancient Israelite religion and culture, Urim and Thummim is a phrase from the Hebrew Scriptures or Torah associated with the Hoshen , divination in general, and cleromancy in particular...

. He brought renown to Franeker as professor, preacher, pastor and theological writer; one student of the period influenced by Ames was Johannes Cocceius

Johannes Cocceius

Johannes Cocceius , Dutch theologian, was born at Bremen.-Life:After studying at Hamburg and the University of Franeker, where Sixtinus Amama was one of his teachers, he became in 1630 professor of biblical philology at the Gymnasium illustre in his native town...

. Another student was Nathaniel Eaton

Nathaniel Eaton

Nathaniel Eaton was the first schoolmaster of Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later became a clergyman.- Biography :...

, later of Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

.

He prepared his Medulla Theologiae (The Marrow of Theology), a manual of Calvinistic doctrine, for his students. Ames was much influenced in terms of method by Ramism

Ramism

Ramism was a collection of theories on rhetoric, logic and pedagogy based on the teachings of Petrus Ramus, a French academic, philosopher and Huguenot convert who was murdered in 1572.According to Jonathan Israel, Ramism-Development:...

, and opposed the residual teaching of Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

. His De Conscientia, ejus Jure et Casibus (1632), an attempt to bring Christian ethics

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

 into clear relation with particular cases of conduct and of conscience, was a new thing in Protestantism

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

.

Move to Rotterdam

Having continued twelve years at Franeker (where he was rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 in 1626), his health gave way, and he contemplated a move to New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

. But another door was opened for him, with an invitation to Rotterdam. There he prepared his Fresh Suit against Ceremonies—the book which made Richard Baxter

Richard Baxter

Richard Baxter was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymn-writer, theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he made his reputation by his ministry at Kidderminster, and at around the same time began a long...

 a Nonconformist. It sums up the issues between the Puritan school and that of Richard Hooker

Richard Hooker

Richard Hooker was an Anglican priest and an influential theologian. Hooker's emphases on reason, tolerance and the value of tradition came to exert a lasting influence on the development of the Church of England...

, and was posthumously published.

Having caught a cold from a flood which inundated his house, he died in November 1633, at the age of fifty-seven, apparently in needy circumstances. He left, by a second wife, a son and a daughter. His library found a home in New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

; his daughter Ruth married there Urian Oakes

Urian Oakes

Urian Oakes was an English-born American minister and educator.-Life:He was born in England in 1631 or 1632, and went when a child with his father to Massachusetts; Thomas Oakes was his brother. He graduated at Harvard College in 1649. While in America he married Ruth, daughter of the...

.

Influence

His works, which the Biographia (1778) testifies were known over Europe, were collected at Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 in five volumes. Only a small proportion was translated into English. Ames' thought was particularly influential in New England.

Sources

• Keith L. Sprunger, The Learned Doctor William Ames (1972)
• See also:
  • John Quick
    John Quick (divine)
    John Quick was an English nonconformist divine.-Life:He was born in Plymouth. After graduating at Oxford in 1657 he was ordained at Ermington in Devon in 1659. A more famous contemporary John Flavel ministered at nearby Dartmouth...
    
    's manuscript Icones Sacrae Anglicanae, which gives the fisherman anecdote on the personal authority of one who was present;
  • Life by Matthias Nethenus prefixed to collected edition of Latin works (5 vols, Amsterdam, 1658);
  • Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii. pp. 346–347;
  • Daniel Neal
    Daniel Neal
    Daniel Neal was an English historian.Born in London, he was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School, and at the universities of Utrecht and Leiden...
    
    's Puritans, i. 532;
  • Thomas Fuller
    Thomas Fuller
    Thomas Fuller was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his Worthies of England, published after his death...
    
    's Cambridge (Christ's College);
  • Hanbury's Hist. Memorials, i. 533;
  • Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. vi., fourth series, 1863, pp. 576–577.

Further reading

• Keith L. Sprunger, The Learned Doctor William Ames, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972.
• Jameela Lares, "William Ames," The Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 281: British Rhetoricians and Logicians, 1500–1660, Second Series, Detroit: Gale, 2003, pp. 3–13.
• Ceri Sullivan, The Rhetoric of the Conscience in Donne, Herbert, and Vaughan, Oxford University Press 2008, ch. 1.

External links

• http://www.thoemmes.com/encyclopedia/ames.htm
• Works of William Ames in Post-Reformation Digital LibraryScholasticon page

Attribution