The Marrow Of Sacred Divinity

This republication of Dr William Ames work seeks to promote the doctrines of distinguishing grace. Dr John Gill quotes often from Dr Ames in his works and for this reason we have made The Marrow of Sacred Divinity available for the reader of today. The gospel truths are clearly Calvinists and clearly beneficial for all to read. This work was translated for the latin and we have done our best to correct the old fashion way of spelling words so please excuse the erroWilliam 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 and the Arminians. The Arminians, or Remonstrants as they were better known opposed the "rigid" Calvinism of the Dutch Reformed churches-a "rigidity" also shared among the English Puritans. The Remonstrants argued two main points: that the human will played a significant, if not a controlling role in salvation and that Christ died for all men, not just the elect. On the second point, Arminius had made a special attack on theory of predestination held by William Perkins, Ames' respective Cambridge tutor. Ames did battle in several tracts with Jan Uitenbogaert, Simon Episcopius, and especially Nicolaas Grevinchoven, an influential Remonstrant minister in Rotterdam. In the winter of 1618-1619 the whole Arminian conflict came to a climax during the Synod of Dort to which Reformed theologians came from England, Holland, France, Switzerland and Germany. Ames served as a consultant to the moderator of the Synod, which finally condemned Arminian theology. He prepared this work as his Medulla Theologiae (The Marrow of Theology), a manual of Calvinistic doctrine, for his students. His works, which the Biographia Britannica (1778) testifies were known over Europe, were collected at Amsterdam in five volumes. Only a small proportion was translated into English. Ames' thought was particularly influential in New England.