the saint’s duty to root this out and learn from it.”^196 Ambrose was among the two
thousand nonconformist Puritan ministers who were ejected from their pulpits on St.
Bartholomew’s Day, August 24, 1662. Already in 1651 Ambrose had experienced
great turmoil. During his annual retreat on May 31, he records, “I practised (as the
Lord inabled) the Duty of Saints Sufferings; Into which condition as I was cast, so the
Lord gave me to see my sin wherefore, and to bewaile it, and to pray for the contrary
grace and Gods favour. The Lord was sweet to me in the preparations to, but
especially in the improving of Sufferings. Now the Spirit left in my soul a sweet scent
and favour behind it. Allelujah. Amen, Amen.”^197 There were abundant tensions
within Preston and Lancashire to cause a sensitive, contemplative spirit to be pained.
It is evident that Ambrose understood, even amid the struggles and tensions, that
God’s providence was present and at work in his life.
This diverse Structural dimension clearly reveals the nature and desires of
Ambrose’s heart. He acknowledged the difficulty of seeking to bring about a
reformation of the people’s behavior both through his preaching and restricting those
who could receive the Lord’s Supper. The result were attacks and persecution, yet
amid these troubling times Ambrose found renewed strength through Scripture and
God’s providence, ”[o]n this day [Jun 24, 1643] understood... that some snares were
laid for him, and by a special Providence at the same time he opened the Bible, and
cast his eye on Psa. 37.v. 32, 33, 34 to his great incouragement and comfort.”^198 God
used both the heart melting humiliations of fasting and the afflictions that came
(^196) Spurr, English Puritanism (^) , 183. cf. Walsham, (^) Providence in Early Modern
England 197.
198 Ambrose, Media (1657), 89-90.^
received strength from Scripture. Ambrose, Media (1650), 110, cf. 102 for a similar event and how Ambrose