them. One possible reason for this was because he was still relatively young and had
not yet established himself since his first publication of Prima and Ultima appeared in
1640 and his more popular Looking Unto Jesus was not published unto 1658. By that
time the political prospects of the Puritan were quickly declining. Richardson
provides a further elaboration on the disadvantage of being isolated from London,
“[t]hrough effective and influential patronage came national notice for the puritan
preacher. But most of those patrons whose activities have been described in an earlier
chapter were able to exert little influence outside the diocese, since they were only
minor figures themselves.”^150 A second significant reason that may account for
Ambrose’s lack of attention could have been his irenic spirit that shunned
controversy. Puritan writers who engaged in more polemical writing would have
attracted greater awareness and visibility by virtue of the controversy that their
writings would have generated. However, that was not consistent with Ambrose’s
personality or style.
Further, there is one additional reason that might explain the lack of interest in
Ambrose in the English-speaking world today. A review of recent dissertations
written over the past few decades reveals that they generally fall into two different
categories. The first group is comprised of comparative studies of two or more
Puritans often focusing on preaching, theology of the Holy Spirit, poetry or other
broader topics. The second category typically relates to studies of specific aspects of
theology of the best-known Puritans especially favoring Richard Sibbes, John Owen,
and Richard Baxter. Moreover, the research interests of many scholars have tended to
avoid the subject of practical divinity or piety of the Puritans. However, the study of
(^150) Richardson, Puritanism in North (^) - West England, 183.