own heart: he acted in things doubtful, against the reluctancy of his own conscience
before; no question this is sin, because it is not faith.”^95 Ambrose declares his
intended response by adding Romans 14:22 and Galatians 2:14 in the margin. Both
of these passages reinforce the importance of walking according to the Gospel and
living before God in a manner that is acceptable to God. In other words, when Satan
tempts you, you must remember to look at God.
The second general category of temptations originates from the flesh.
Ambrose declares that the flesh does not mean “the body and the flesh thereof, but
that corruption of nature, which hath defiled the Body and Soul.”^96 Further, he states
that the “evils that arise from the flesh, are lusts or temptations of Uncleanness.”^97
Based upon the available diary entries Ambrose reported as many experiences that
related to the flesh as to the world and devil combined. Not surprising, later in War
with Devils he observes, “[t]he Flesh is a worse enemy than the Devil himself; for
never could the Devil hurt us, if this imbred enemy did not betray us: This is the root,
the fountain, the origine of all other sin, when lust have conceived, it bringeth forth
sin.”^98
More specifically Ambrose’s greatest struggles of the soul were related to the
flesh. As previously indicated, his major challenge appears to have been pride.^99 The
following sampling reflect both his honesty and struggle as well as the ways in which
(^95) Ambrose, Media (^) (1650), 106. (^)
(^96) Ambrose, War with Devils, 52, cf. 16.
(^97) Ambrose, Media (1657), 286.
(^98) Ambrose, War with Devils, 57.
(^99) Pride was also a common temptation to both Henry Newcome and Thomas
Shepard. See Newcome, Diary, 49, 201 and McGiffert, God’s Plot, 25, 85, 88, 103,
108, 128. cf. Haller, (^) Rise of Puritanism, 153-4, 196.