is a strong eschatological nature to ravishment since a person is more likely to focus
on God and meditate on heaven the closer they approach death, however, that is not to
minimize the very real benefits of it while a person is still on earth.^166
Ambrose maintains that while ravishment is a gift of God’s grace, a person
can prepare to be more receptive and therefore more likely to experience it through
the use of spiritual practices. Reflecting Bernard, these experiences are rare and
episodic rather than continuous, though on one occasion Ambrose enjoyed this
experience for two days. Additionally, gender does not have any major effect upon
ravishment as Ambrose draws equally upon the examples of Peter and Mary. Again
following Bernard’s lead, though in a more balanced fashion, Ambrose develops his
theology and experience of Christ mysticism through the interaction of the intellect
and affections. Further, most of Ambrose’s uses of ravishment were metaphoric and
mental rather than visual and physical, though there were exceptions in both
categories. At the completion of the next chapter when the important topic of
retrieval will be introduced, it will be necessary to return to ravishment and consider
whether this ambiguous term is still usable today.
The next chapter focuses on the twin challenges of resistance and retrieval.
Already during the seventeenth-century the potential dangers and abuse in mystical
experiences were present. Isaac Ambrose and Puritans who shared his contemplative-
mystical piety found themselves in the middle, bordered on the one side by the
enthusiasm of the Quakers and on the other side by the fears of Rome. That sets the
166
Williams, “Puritan Enjoyment of God,” 198n174; Dewey Wallace, “Saintliness in
Puritan Hagiography,” 36see Hambrick-Stowe, Practice of Piety-7; and more broadly on the spiritual significance of death , 224-41.