Christian in Complete Armour employed the Pauline battle imagery of Ephesians 6
and was one of the most popular Puritan works on this subject. Gurnall cites
Tertullian, Augustine, and Jerome as well as later writers such as Bernard and Gerson.
In reality the gulf between Roman Catholic and Puritan writings on this subject was
not as wide as some might suspect.^82 More importantly to this study is Ambrose’s
knowledge of some early sources on spiritual warfare. In War with Devils he writes,
“Athanasius tells of an Hermite to whom God should reveal the state of the world.”^83
This almost certainly refers to Antony, the early desert father whose experience of
spiritual combat was recorded by Athanasius. Later in this same work, Ambrose
makes a specific reference to the twenty-third scale that is pride in John Climacus’s
Ladder of Divine Ascent.^84
Ambrose asserts that the devil is a formidable foe “and enters into Spirits; his
wrestling is so close, that neither understanding, will, affections, nor any thing within
can escape his fangs.”^85 This should not imply that the devil could control the
individual believer in Jesus. Ambrose clarifies that the Devil “cannot compel or force
you to Sin.” Therefore, it is “not that Sathan imports any new thing into our minds,
which he found not in our fancies before.”^86 Further, as he expounds his thinking
more fully Ambrose declares that Satan knows “our thoughts, as well as words and
actions” but this is only true for the “outer rooms” of our life. Ambrose seeks to
reassure his readers as he limits the power of the devil in the lives of Christians, “for
the most inner room or privy chamber, wherein we place the understanding and will,
(^82) See for example Clark, “Protestan (^) t Demonology,” 73, 79 and Bozeman,
Precisianist Strain 83 , 79
84 Ambrose, War with Devils, 56.^
85 Ambrose, War with Devils, 170.^
86 Ambrose, Ambrose, War with DevilsWar with Devils, 15., 10.^