The third step owed much to the influence of Ambrose, the famed leader of the church in Milan.
As Augustine himself admitted, in his sceptical frame of mind he attended the sermons of Ambrose simply to cast his own professional eye over the preaching of Ambrose.
The furthest expectation in the mind of Augustine was what actually happened.
Even before Augustine noticed it happening to him, he began to be swayed by the words of Ambrose, and challenged by his reasoning.
As a skilled orator himself, Augustine saw that the preaching style of Ambrose centred more on the thoughts he communicated, more than on the words he used.
Ambrose had a message to communicate, and was not additionally trying to entertain by using polished phrases.
Augustine said, "Ambrose was one who spoke the truth, and preached it well, judiciously, and with beauty and power of expression."
In the words of Ambrose, Augustine for the first time heard Christian doctrine exposed in its literary form and with mystical interpretations of the Bible, and he listened eagerly. Augustine soon met Ambrose in person.
He later wrote in his Confessions, "To Milan I came, to Ambrose... To him was I led by You, Lord, that by him I might knowingly be led to You. That man of God received me as a father... I hung on his words attentively."
Ambrose had a sharp mind and patiently answered many of the objections of Augustine to the Christian religion.
In particular, he helped Augustine work through the Old Testament stories that had once horrified him.
Ambrose suggested that some of them could be read allegorically.
Once Augustine had visited Ambrose personally, the experience of the kindness of Ambrose further attracted Augustine to attend his preaching frequently.
Augustine described Ambrose as sympathetic, seductive, and one who enticed others to live the life of Christ.
