William Ames and the Settlement of Massachusetts Bay

Abstract

A MONG the stars which sparkled in Cotton Mather's firmament of New England history was William Ames, a man who never set foot in the New World. To the New England Puritans, was profound, that sublime, that subtil, that irrefragable,-yea, that angelical doctor; and even Cotton Mather had to tax his vocabulary to picture with suitable superlatives.' Although never settled in America, his name was an integral part of the events which shaped the first years of the Puritan colonies. The learned Doctor Ames (or Amesius as he was known on the Continent) lived his early life in England, where East Anglia and Cambridge made him a thorough Puritan. After his nonconformity became too ostentatious, he made his way to Holland in 16 1o, where he spent his last years until his death in 1633 as a champion of Calvinist orthodoxy. While abroad, he always kept a close scrutiny of affairs back in England and also of the new developments in America. From the early phases of planning for the colonization in America, the New England-bound Puritans sought to lure William to accompany them. His scholarly attainments in theology at the University of Franeker and the popularity of his treatises, especially the Medulla Theologiae and De Conscientia, had made him a well-known figure. The scholar, however, was also a Puritan; and his various surreptitious polemics against the Anglican system were devastating to prelatical claims. He endeared himself to the Congregationalists for his clear, unapologetic defense of the Congregational theories. Together with William Bradshaw and Henry Jacob, had developed a comprehensive blueprint for Nonseparating Congregationalism, which served the New England