fervent in prayer.”^154 According to Ambrose, there were four important components
to a fast day: fasting from sin, combining scripture and prayer, following up with
expressions of mercy, and renewing the covenant with God.^155 He resolves the
question of whether a private or public fast day is more important by wisely stating it
all depends upon the person and their situation.^156 Preaching was also a part of fast
days.^157 Additionally, fasting was frequently connected with humiliation.^158 Perhaps
most illuminating and suggestive of his own experiences, Ambrose declares that
“[f]asting days are soul-feeding days, and soul-curing days; some diseases, some lusts
will go out no other ways.”^159
One example of a “soul-feeding” day occurred in Ambrose’s own house on
January 6, 1642, “[t]his day a private Fast being observed, the Lord gave some, that
exercised, the very spirit & power of Prayer, to the ravishment of hearers; surely it
was the Spirit spake in them.”^160 This incident, reminiscent of Ambrose’s retreat
experiences, enabled him to taste the ravishing presence of God. Obviously it was a
significant event since he mentioned it earlier in a slightly different form, “[t]his day I
observed a private Fast in my house; where by the Spirit of Prayer in some Christians,
all hearts were warmed, affections moved, and Christ manifested his presence in the
(^154) Scudder, Christians Daily Walke (^) , 69-70.
(^155) Ambrose, Media (1657), 569-71. This treatment follows rather closely the format
provided by Lewis Bayly, Practice of Piety, 491-520. See also Scudder, Christians
Daily Walke 156 , 69-147 for a more in depth treatment of fasting.
157 Ambrose, Walsham, MediaProvidence in Early Modern England (1657), 359-60.^ , 283-87; Hambrick-Stowe,
Practice of Piety 158 , 135, 247-9; and Old, Reading and Preaching Scriptures, 4:296-9.
Durston, “Better Humiliation of People,” 133-5, 140, 145 and Hambrick-Stowe,
Practice of Piety 159 , 100, 102-3.
Ambrose, Media (1657), 343. According to Catherine Nunn, Henry Newcome
experienced similar benefits; “[h]e considered that the quiet contemplation which they
encouraged was a conduit by which God could work on the soul of the individual.”
Henry Newcome and his Circle,” 14. (^160) Ambrose, Media (1657), 184