[i.e. imagination] will make every creature a ladder to heaven.”^118 Because of the
importance of imagination in Ambrose’s teaching on meditation and experience of
God he questions his readers directly “is thy imagination strong?”^119 This concern is
amplified by his frequent invitation and encouragement to use one’s imagination by
the repeated inclusion in his writings of “imagine then” as the person meditates on a
passage of Scripture.^120 Not surprisingly, given the nature of his massive work on
contemplation, Ambrose often personalizes Jesus in relation to the individual through
imagination. In his consideration of Jesus’ work of salvation he writes, “[r]eallize
Christ standing by thee.”^121
This raises the question how did Ambrose’s use of imagination compare with
Ignatius of Loyola? While Ambrose and the Puritans essentially continued the
practice of using “composition of place”^ in their meditation^122 there still appears to be
a rather significant gap between Ignatius and Ambrose in style and especially content.
However, Lovelace is too restrictive in his critique asserting “[t]he Ignatian type of
mysticism, which stresses Christ in his human nature and the pictorial use of sensory
imagination, is also alien to Puritan communion, which would insist on going to God
by a route that it would consider more direct and more spiritual.”^123 More accurately
it can be noted that Ignatius placed much greater emphasis upon all five senses for
reconstructing and experiencing the biblical text. Conversely Ambrose, while able to
create vivid images of the biblical stories is more restrained in his use of the senses,
(^118) Sibbes, Soul’s Conflict (^) , 185. (^)
(^119) Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 626.
(^120) Ambrose, Ultima in Prima, Media, Ultima (1654), 53, 76, 115, 140, 174, 181;
Media (1657), 398; Looking Unto Jesus, 519, 659, 1035; and War with Devils, 67;
etc. 121
122 Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 476, cf. 1077.^
(^123) Lovelace, “Anatomy Puritan Piety,” 3:318, cf. 296. Hambrick-Stowe, Practice of Piety, 31-2, 38-9.^