ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to delineate the important origins of Ambrose's remarks on recording one's own sin as a means to salvation, as a response to the Puritan notion of a book of conscience'. It shows that how such notions could be assimilated as part of a wider cultural practice of writing. The chapter demonstrates that Puritans regarded the writing of their book of conscience' as a record of God's work within their lives. The idea of an autobiography' was only realised in the eighteenth century, and so an exploration of the book of conscience' will provide an insight into how Puritans saw the activity of writing about their fallen state. The prospect of writing about the self was an important part of Puritan literary culture. Puritan ministers emphasised that Scripture was the earliest model of this activity, with the writings of King Solomon and David as prime examples of a form of diary-keeping that recorded sin and salvation.
