Chapter 2
Biblical and Theological Foundations of Spiritual MarriageIs it thus, O my soul? hath the Lord Christ indeed discovered his will, to thee
for his Spouse? What, he that is so holy, to marry such an impure wretch as thou art? O how should this but melt-thee into a flame of love? ... O my soul,
henceforth cling to thy Savior, go out of thy self, and creep to him, and affect
not onely union, but very unity with him; bathe thy self hereafter again and
again, many and many a time in those delicious intimacies of thy Spiritual
marriage.^1Christian spirituality records the long history of believers hungering for God.
The previous chapter introduced Isaac Ambrose as a seventeenth-century moderate
Puritan divine. While his life and writings have been under-researched those few
scholars who have studied him have noticed a strong contemplative dimension to his
works. Ambrose was situated within the larger stream of Christian spirituality by
exploring the meaning of mysticism, Puritanism, and Puritan mysticism. McGinn’s
broader definition of the mystical element of Christian spirituality was modified to
reflect a more Reformed understanding, and therefore called contemplative-mystical
piety. After a review of various sources pertaining to both Puritan piety and Isaac
Ambrose the critical theme of hermeneutics was examined.
This chapter studies the central role of the biblical and theological foundation
of mystical union or spiritual marriage. However, McGinn suggests that the language
of mystical union be replaced with the broader term of “the immediate or direct
presence of God.” He asserts that this revised approach enlarges the potential for
recognizing the mystical element in Christianity since mystical union is only one of
(^1) Ambrose, Media (^) (1657), 235 (incorrectly numbered 237) (^) - 236.