this critical topic.^144 Based on his immediate reference to Rutherford’s Survey of the
Spiritual Antichrist and comments including “Christ hath done all Duties for us” it is
clear that he is referring to Antinomianism, which among other things was resistant to
spiritual practices and was prevalent in Lancashire.^145 Ambrose also advises his
readers that everything that he has written he has practiced himself. Further, as noted
previously, while the steps may appear to be demanding as one reads through this
massive work of spiritual practices he reminds them that these are guidelines and not
rigid rules.^146 There are two additional principles to understanding Ambrose’s
teaching on spiritual practices, the first is the importance of the Holy Spirit guiding
the person and the second is Jesus’ ministry of perfecting what a person offers to
God.^147
A dynamic spiritual component of Media is a series of retreat days that
illustrate Ambrose’s own personal use of these spiritual duties and how they prepared
him for contemplative experiences of ravishment and delight. Philip Sheldrake
perceptively recognizes that same combination when he writes, “[a] somewhat
ascetical spirituality was off-set in some people [the Puritans] with a more
contemplative stance and even mystical raptures as in Isaac Ambrose.”^148 Clearly the
spiritual duties that Ambrose describes in Media are identical to the ones he practices
during his retreats. He engaged them in the following order: watchfulness, self-
examination, experiences, evidences, meditation, life of faith, prayer, reading the
(^144) Ambrose, Media (^) (1657), To the Reader, [5], cf. 34. (^)
(^145) Ambrose, Media (1657), To the Reader, [5-6] and Como, Blown by the Spirit, 35
(resistance to spiritual duties) and esp. 315 146 - 21 (antinomianism in Lancashire).
147 Ambrose, Media (1657), To the Reader, [8, 6-7].^
Ambrose, Media (1657), To the Reader, [8-9], 89, 90, 184 (on the role of the
Spirit) and 17 (on Christ perfecting human offering). (^148) Sheldrake, Brief History of Spirituality, 120