Cost of Discipleship

William Ames (1576-1633) held a post at Cambridge University where he had a stellar academic career. He had been converted under the ministry of William Perkins. He was forced to leave the university and all of his degrees were suspended because of his Puritan convictions. He went to the Netherlands where he was given a position at the University of Leiden and, later, at a university in Friesland. He lost the last post for the same reason: his Puritanism and conviction of practical godliness. He finally became a pastor of a church in Rotterdam. According to Robert Oliver, Ames' "lasting memorial is his Medulla Theologiae or Marrow of Theology published in 1627. As a university tutor he had attempted to 'call students away from questions and controversies obscure, confused and not very essential, and introduce it to life and practice so that the students would begin to think seriously of conscience and its concerns.' He began his Medulla with the words, 'Theology is the doctrine of living to God.'"