Chapter 4
Isaac Ambrose’s Spiritual Practices and Contemplative ExperiencesIt is the Lords pleasure that we should dayly come to him... he would have us to be still arising, ascending, and mounting up in divine contemplations to his
Majesty. And is it not our duty, and the Saints disposition to be thus?... if
Christ be in heaven, where should we be but in heaven with him? for where
your treasure is, there will be your heart also. Oh that every morning, and
every evening, at least, our hearts would arise, ascend, and go to Christ in the
heavens.^1The previous chapter examined Isaac Ambrose’s experience of God through
the various dimensions of his personal and public life. His devotional practices
including his annual month-long retreats, spiritual battles and temptations, spiritual
companionship with those in need, engagement in the structures of public and
national life, and the contextual influence of his environment shaped his experiences
of God. Further, his ability to overcome the fears and anxieties that were so prevalent
for nonconformists in seventeenth-century England sensitized and strengthened him
to be an effective physician of the soul. The resulting spiritual hunger and the delight
and enjoyment he experienced with God was evident in the strong contemplative-
mystical flavor in his writings.
Chapter 3 also revealed that Ambrose’s understanding of contemplation was
consistent with that of his day as a loving and sustained gaze upon God’s presence
and mighty acts. This chapter will examine more fully Ambrose’s understanding of
the nature and experience of contemplation. First, this topic will be situated within a
brief discussion of the distinction between meditation and contemplation and then
(^1) Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus (^) , 1152.