Isaac Ambrose (1604-1664)
Isaac Ambrose was born in 1604, the son of Richard Ambrose, vicar of
Ormskirk, Lancashire. Entering Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1621, he
graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1624, and was ordained to
the ministry. He became vicar of the parish church in Castleton,
Derbyshire, in 1627, then served at Clapham, Yorkshire, from 1629 to
1631. The following
year he received a Master of Arts degree from Cambridge.
Through the influence of William Russell, Earl of Bedford, Ambrose
was appointed one of the king’s four itinerant preachers for Lancashire,
and took up residence in Garstang, a Lancashire town between Preston
and Lancaster. The king’s preachers were commissioned to preach the
Reformation doctrines in an area that was strongly entrenched in Roman
Catholicism. Shortly thereafter, he was married.
About 1640, Lady Margaret Hoghton selected him as vicar of Preston in
Amounderness. As long as Ambrose lived in Preston, he enjoyed the warm
friendship of the Hoghton family. It was to their ancestral woods and
tower near Blackburn, east of Preston, or Weddicre Woods near Garstang,
that Ambrose retired each May to be alone, searching the Scriptures,
praying, and meditating upon God. His sermon, “Redeeming the Time,”
preached to the large congregation assembled for Lady Hoghton’s funeral,
was long remembered in Lancashire.
At the time of the Reformation, many in Preston, especially the local
gentry, had clung to the Roman Catholic faith. When the first civil war
began, Preston remained loyal to the king and became the headquarters
for the Royalists in Lancashire. Nonetheless, Ambrose declared himself a
Puritan and a Presbyterian when he subscribed to the Solemn League and
Covenant of 1643, and he was one of the ministers who served on the
committee of Parliament appointed to oversee the ejection of “scandalous
and ignorant ministers and schoolmasters” during the Commonwealth.
Preston became a battleground between the opposing forces of king and
Parliament. Ambrose was arrested twice (1642 and 1643) for his
Presbyterian beliefs, but he was quickly released on both occasions
because of his friendship with the Hoghtons and other neighboring
gentlemen and his own reputation for godliness. When Bolton was taken by
the Royalists in 1644, Ambrose took refuge in Leeds. Cromwell defeated
the Royalist troops at the battle fought in Preston in 1648. This
victory concluded the second civil war.
Presbyterianism in Lancashire was served well by Ambrose in the 1640s
and early 1650s, though not without strife. On several occasions he
served as moderator of the Lancashire classis, and, in 1648, was a
signatory of the harmonious consent of the Lancashire Presbyterian
clergy, which expressed solidarity with the Westminster Assembly and
opposed calls for toleration. In 1649, the local committee for the
relief of plundered ministers ordered him to be briefly imprisoned in
London. When Ambrose returned to minister in Preston, he faced ongoing
persecution. Finally, in 1654, he gave up his post there, perhaps due
in part to illness (Oxford DNB, 1:921).
Ambrose moved north to become minister of Garstang, where he was
ejected from his living in 1662 because of non- conformity. He lived in
retirement among his friends at Preston, dying suddenly of apoplexy on
January 23, 1664. It was said of him: “He was holy in life, happy in his
death, honored of God, and held in high estimation by all good men.”
Ambrose was a Christ-centered and warmly experiential author. He
spoke of himself as a son of Boanerges and Barnabas, though his writings
and ministry appear to have reflected more of the latter than the
former. His writings are remarkably free of polemics. “As a religious
writer Ambrose has a vividness and freshness of imagination possessed by
scarcely any of the Puritan nonconformists. Many who have no love for
Puritan doctrine, nor sympathy with Puritan experience, have appreciated
the pathos and beauty of his writings, and his Looking unto Jesus long
held its own in popular appreciation with the writings of John Bunyan”
(Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., 1:800). A collection of his works
appeared in 1674 and was reprinted at least seven times over the next
two centuries.
Several of Ambrose’s significant books have not been reprinted for
more than a century. These include the first works from his pen, Prima
and Ultima, written in 1640. Prima presents the message of regeneration
and Ultima deals with the last things, including life, death, judgment,
hell, a correct understanding of purgatory, and heaven. These works were
followed by Media, written in 1650. This lengthier treatise on
sanctification examines the spiritual duties that the believer should
engage in to grow in grace and deeper union with Christ. Ambrose was a
strong proponent of keeping a diary to record daily experiences with
God. Unfortunately, his diary
has been lost, though he did include two lengthy samples in Media.
These reveal his deep passion for seeking and experiencing the “joy
unspeakable and full of glory” of Jesus Christ, our divine bridegroom.
Ambrose’s Communion with Angels was first published with his Works in
1674. This work traces the ways in which God’s divine messengers assist
the believer at the various periods of life from birth to the judgment.
According to Ambrose, angels defend and keep us safe from the
temptations of the devil and act as God’s servants and instruments of
providence. Angels may work in our dreams and therefore we must be
careful to discern the origin of our dreams to see if they are of God.
While still strongly experimental in nature, this is Ambrose’s most
speculative work.
Excerpt from Meet the Puritans
by Dr. Joel Beeke and Randall J. Pederson
