{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_15199/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_15199","id":"gutenberg_15199","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15199","summary":null,"tags":["Bibliomania","Category: History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Library science -- Early works to 1800"],"text":"Produced by David Starner, Linda Cantoni, and the PG Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY\n\n\nTHE REFORMED LIBRARIE-KEEPER\n\n(1650)\n\n\nJOHN DURY\n\n\n_Introduction by_\n\nRICHARD H. POPKIN\n\n_and_\n\nTHOMAS F. WRIGHT\n\n\nPublication Number 220\n\nWILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY\n\nUniversity of California, Los Angeles\n\n1983\n\n\n\n\nGENERAL EDITOR\n  DAVID STUART RODES, _University of California, Los Angeles_\n\nEDITORS\n  CHARLES L. BATTEN, _University of California, Los Angeles_\n  GEORGE ROBERT GUFFEY, _University of California, Los Angeles_\n  MAXIMILLIAN E. NOVAK, _University of California, Los Angeles_\n  NANCY M. SHEA, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_\n  THOMAS WRIGHT, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_\n\nADVISORY EDITORS\n  RALPH COHEN, _University of Virginia_\n  WILLIAM E. CONWAY, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_\n  VINTON A. DEARING, _University of California, Los Angeles_\n  PHILLIP HARTH, _University of Wisconsin, Madison_\n  LOUIS A. LANDA, _Princeton University_\n  EARL MINER, _Princeton University_\n  JAMES SUTHERLAND, _University College, London_\n  NORMAN J.W. THROWER, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_\n  ROBERT VOSPER, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_\n  JOHN M. WALLACE, _University of Chicago_\n\nPUBLICATIONS MANAGER\n  NANCY M. SHEA, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_\n\nCORRESPONDING SECRETARY\n  BEVERLY J. ONLEY, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_\n\nEDITORIAL ASSISTANT\n  FRANCES MIRIAM REED, _University of California, Los Angeles_\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nThis work, with its quaint sentiments and its grim picture of what\nlibrarians were like in the mid-seventeenth century, is more than a\ncuriosity. John Dury was a very important figure in the Puritan\nRevolution, offering proposal after proposal to prepare England for its\nrole in the millennium. _The Reformed Librarie-Keeper_ is an integral\npart of that preparation. To appreciate it one must look at it in terms\nof the plans of Dury and his associates, Samuel Hartlib and Johann Amos\nComenius, to reform the intellectual institutions of England so that the\nprophecies in the books of Daniel and Revelation could be fulfilled\nthere.\n\nJohn Dury (1596-1680), the son of a Scottish Puritan, was raised in\nHolland.[1] He studied at the University of Leiden, then at the French\nReformed seminaries at Sedan and Leiden, and later at Oxford. He was\nordained a Protestant minister and served first at Cologne and then at\nthe English church in the West Prussian city of Elbing. There he came in\ncontact with Samuel Hartlib (?-1662), a merchant, who was to devote\nhimself to many religious and scientific projects in England, and with\nJohann Amos Comenius (1592-1670), the leader of the Moravian Brethren,\nas well as with other great educational reformers of the Continent. The\nthree of them shared a common vision--that the advancement of knowledge,\nthe purification of the Christian churches, and the impending conversion\nof the Jews were all antecedent steps to the commencement in the\nforeseeable future of the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ\non earth. They saw the struggles of the Thirty Years' War and the\nreligious conflict in England as part of their development of\nprovidential history.\n\nIn terms of their common vision, each of them strove during the decade\n1630-40 to help the world prepare for the great events to come. Comenius\nstarted redoing the educational system through his textbooks and set\nforth plans for attaining universal knowledge. Hartlib moved from\nGermany to England, where he became a central organizing figure in both\nthe nascent scientific world and the theological world. He was in\ncontact with a wide variety of intellectuals and brought their ideas\ntogether. (For instance, he apprised Dury of the millenarian theory of\nJoseph Mede, which was to be so influential in the Puritan Revolution,\nand he spread Comenius's ideas in England.) Dury devoted himself\nprincipally to trying to unite all of the Protestant churches in Europe\nand to this end began his peregrinations from Sweden and Germany to\nHolland, Switzerland, France, and England. These travels were to\ncontinue throughout the rest of his life, as he tried to negotiate an\nagreement on the essentials of Christianity in preparation for Jesus'\nreturn.\n\nIn 1640, as the Puritan Revolution began, Hartlib, Comenius, and Dury\nsaw the developments in England as the opportunity to put their\nscientific-religious plans into effect. They joined together in London\nin 1641 and, with strong support, offered proposals to prepare England\nfor the millennium. They proposed setting up a new university in London\nfor developing universal knowledge. In spite of the strong backing they\nhad from leaders of the State and Church, Parliament was unable to fund\nthe project because of the turmoil of the time. Comenius left for the\nContinent, while Hartlib and Dury advanced other projects and involved\nthemselves in the Westminster conference to reform the Church.[2]\n\nHugh Trevor-Roper has called Hartlib, Dury, and Comenius \"the real\nphilosophers, the only philosophers, of the English Revolution.\"[3] They\ncombined a long list of practical plans with an overall vision of how\nthese fitted into the needed antecedent events to the millennium. They\nmade proposals for improving and reforming many aspects of human\nactivities and human institutions. The advancement of knowledge, the\nimprovement of human life, and the purification of religion, which\nincluded bringing the Jews and Christians together, would prepare\nEngland for its role when God chose to transform human history. In a\nlong series of pamphlets and tracts, Hartlib and Dury turned Comenius's\ntheory into practical applications to the situation then prevailing in\nEngland.[4]\n\nDury outlined this program in a sermon he gave before Parliament on 26\nNovember 1645 entitled _Israels Call to March Out of Babylon unto\nJerusalem_. He pointed out that England, the new Israel, had a special\nrole in history, \"for the Nations of great _Britain_ have made a new\nthing in the world; a thing which hath not been done by any Nation in\nthe world, since the preaching of the Gospel in it, a thing which since\nthe Jewish Nation, in the daies of _Nehemiah_, was never heard of in any\nNation, that not only the Rulers, but the whole multitude of the people\nshould enter into a Covenant with their God, ... to walk in the waies\nof his Word, to maintain the Cause of Religion, and to reform themselves\naccording to his will\" (pp. 23-24).\n\nSince England was to be God's agent in history, Dury proclaimed at the\nend of his sermon that \"The Schooles of the Prophets, the\nUniversities[,] must be setled, purged and reformed with wholsom\nconstitutions, for the education of the sonnes of the Prophets, and the\ngovernment of their lives and with the soundnes and purity of spirituall\nlearning, that they may speak the true language of _Canaan_, and that\nthe gibberidge of Scholastical Divinity may be banished out of their\nsociety\" (p. 48).\n\nIn the same year that he delivered this sermon, Dury married an aunt of\nLady Catherine Ranelagh and was brought in closer contact with Lady\nCatherine's brother, Robert Boyle, and the young scientists of the\nso-called Invisible College. Dury and Hartlib pressed for reforms that\nwould promote a better, more useful education from the lowest grades\nupward. Convinced by the passage in Daniel 12:4 that knowledge shall\nincrease before the end of history, Dury and Hartlib sought various\nopportunities to bring about this increase in knowledge through better\nschools, better religious training, and better organization of\nknowledge. Such organization would necessarily affect libraries since\nthey were an all-important component of the premillennial preparation.\n\nBetween 1645 and 1650, Dury wrote a great many tracts on improving the\nChurch and society. These include an as yet unpublished one, dated 16\nAugust 1646, giving his views on the post of library keeper at Oxford.\nThe poor state of Oxford's library led Dury to observe that the\nlibrarian is to be \"a factor and trader for helpes to learning, a\ntreasurer to keep them and a dispenser to apply them to use, or to see\nthem well used, or at least not abused.\"[5] During his travels on the\nContinent, Dury had visited Duke Augustus of Brunswick and was obviously\nvery impressed by the great library the Duke was assembling at\nWolfenbuttel. In his important _Seasonable Discourse_ of 1649 on\nreforming religion and learning, Dury had proposed establishing in\nLondon the first college for Jewish studies in the modern world. In this\nproposal, he saw as a basic need the procurement of a collection of\nOriental books. Such a library was not just to store materials, but to\nmake them available and thereby increase knowledge. Hartlib, in a\npamphlet entitled _Considerations tending to the Happy Accomplishment of\nEngland's Reformation in Church and State_, written in 1647 and\npublished in 1649, had proposed a central \"Office of Addresse,\" an\ninformation service dispensing spiritual and \"bodily\" information to all\nwho wished it. The holder of this office should, he said, correspond\nwith \"Chiefe Library-Keepers of all places, whose proper employments\nshould bee to trade for the Advantages of Learning and Learned Men in\nBooks and MS[S] to whom he may apply himselfe to become beneficiall,\nthat such as Mind The End of their employment may reciprocate with him\nin the way of Communication\" (p. 49).\n\nEvents surrounding the overthrow and execution of Charles I led Dury to\nbecome more personally involved in library matters. After the king fled\nfrom London, the royal goods were subject to various proposals,\nincluding selling or burning. These schemes of disposal extended to his\nbooks and manuscripts, which were stored in St. James's Palace. John\nSelden is credited with preventing the sale of the royal library.\nBulstrode Whitelocke was appointed keeper of the king's medals and\nlibrary, and on 28 October 1650 Dury was appointed his deputy. According\nto Anthony a Wood, Dury \"did the drudgery of the place.\"[6] The books\nand manuscripts were in terrible disorder and disarray, and Dury\ncarefully reorganized them. As soon as he took over, Dury stopped any\nefforts to sell the books and ordered that the new chapel, built\noriginally for the wedding of King Charles I, be turned into a library.\nHe immediately ordered the printing of the Septuagint copy of the Bible\nin the royal collection.\n\nIn the same year that he became deputy keeper, Dury wrote the following\ntract, one of a dozen he composed in 1650 on topics ranging from the\neducational to the ecclesiastical. Among the latter was his introduction\nto Thomas Thorowgood's book contending that the American Indians are\ndescended from the Israelites, a work that also served as promotional\nmaterial for New England colonization.\n\nThat Dury's _The Reformed Librarie-Keeper_ is part of his reform program\npreparatory to the onset of the millennium is apparent both from its\nsetting and its content. It was published in 1650 along with two other\ntracts (not reprinted here)[7] and Dury's supplement to his _Reformed\nSchool_, which itself had appeared a few months earlier. _The Reformed\nSchool_ was a basic presentation of the ideas of Comenius, Hartlib, and\nDury for transforming the nature of education in such a way that from\ninfancy people would be directed in their striving toward universal\nknowledge and spiritual betterment. The _Supplement to the Reformed\nSchool_ deals with the role that universities should take in preparing\nfor the Kingdom of God, a role making them more actively part of the\nworld.\n\nHaving placed educational institutions in the scheme of things\npreparatory to the millennium, Dury then proceeds to place library\nkeeping and libraries in this scheme as well. Unfortunately, according\nto Dury, library keepers had traditionally regarded their positions as\nopportunities for profit and gain, not for \"the service, which is to bee\ndon by them unto the Common-wealth of Israel, for the advancement of\nPietie and Learning\" (p. 15). Library keepers \"ought to becom Agents for\nthe advancement of universal Learning\" and not just mercenary people (p.\n17). Their role ought not to be just to guard the books but to make them\navailable to those seeking universal knowledge and understanding of the\nKingdom of God.\n\nThe library and the library keeper can play important roles in making\nknowledge available. As Dury points out, Oxford and Heidelberg have\nfailed to do so. Dury's work enumerates very practical problems that\nneed to be solved and integrates them into an overall picture of the\nlibrary keeper, the library, the school, and the church--all fundamental\ncomponents of a better world, if properly reformed. Reforming involves\npractical changes directed by the spiritual goal of preparing for the\nmillennium. And it should be noticed that while Dury had time to worry\nabout how much librarians should be paid and how books should be\nclassified, and while he was occupied in getting the king's books in\ntheir proper place on the shelf, he was also convinced that the\npenultimate events before the onset of the millennium were about to take\nplace. A month after his official appointment as deputy library keeper,\nDury wrote the preface, dated 28 November 1650, to Abraham von\nFranckenberg's _Clavis Apocalyptica_. This work in Dury's translation of\n1651 states on the title page that it offers a key to the prophecies in\nthe books of Daniel and Revelation and \"that the Prophetical Numbers com\nto an end with the year of our Lord 1655.\" The work, which Dury strongly\nendorses, lists as events \"which are shortly to com to pass, collected\nout of the XI and XVI Chapters of the REVELATION,\" the destruction of\nthe city of Rome, the end of the Turkish Empire, the conversion of the\nJews, and the ruin of the whole papacy. Thereupon, the Devil will be\ncast out and shut up in the bottomless pit, and the Son of God will take\n\"possession of the Kingdom\" and reign for the millennium (pp. [164-65]).\n\nAs is all too evident, Dury's reform projects did not lead to the\nmillennium. He was active in England until sent abroad in 1654 as\nCromwell's unofficial agent. Again he traveled all over Protestant\nEurope negotiating to reunite the churches. After the Restoration he was\nunable to return to England and lived out his life on the Continent\ntrying to bring about Christian reunion. One of his last works, which\nhas not been located, was a shady _Touchant l'intelligence de\nl'Apocalypse par l'Apocalypse meme_ of 1674. His daughter married Henry\nOldenburg, who became a secretary of the Royal Society of England and\nwho helped bring about some of the scientific reforms Dury had\nadvocated.\n\n_Richard H. Popkin\nWashington University_\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nJohn Dury's place in the intellectual and religious life of\nseventeenth-century England and Europe is amply demonstrated in the\npreceding part of the introduction. This section focuses on _The\nReformed Librarie-Keeper_ itself, which was printed in 1650 with the\nsubheading _Two copies of Letters concerning the Place and Office of a\nLibrarie-Keeper_ (p. 15). The first letter concentrates on practical\nquestions of the organization and administration of the library, the\nsecond relates the librarian's function to educational goals and, above\nall else, to the mission of the Christian religion. The work's two-part\nstructure is a clue to a proper understanding of the genesis of _The\nReformed Librarie-Keeper_ and to its meaning and puts in ironic\nperspective its usefulness for later academic librarianship.\n\nBecause _The Reformed Librarie-Keeper_ appeared in the same year that\nDury became deputy librarian of the King's Library in St. James's\nPalace, it has been assumed that he probably wrote the pamphlet as a\nform of self-promotion to secure the job. An anonymous article in _The\nLibrary_ in 1892, for instance, speculates that the pamphlet may have\nbeen \"composed for the special purpose of the Author's advancement\" and\nthat Milton and Samuel Hartlib urged its production \"to forward his\nclaims\" while the Council of State was debating what to do with Charles\nI's books.[8] Certainly the final sentence of the tract, with its\nreferences to \"the Hous\" and \"the Counsels of leading men in this\nCommon-wealth\" (p. 31), suggests a connection with the debate, but the\ntone of religious zeal that permeates the work, and especially the\nsecond letter, seems to transcend any specific occasion. Moreover,\nHartlib, Dury's longtime friend and associate in millenarian causes and\nthe recipient and editor of these letters, claims that they and the\nother, disparate works he selected for the volume are all \"_fruits of\nsom of my Solicitations and Negotiations for the advancement of\nLearning_\" and as such \"_are but preparatives towards that perfection\nwhich wee may exspect by the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ,\nwherein the Communion of Saints, by the graces of the Spirit, will\nswallow up all these poor Rudiments of knowledg, which wee now grope\nafter by so manie helps_\" (sig. A2r-v).\n\nThere is, in fact, no way of knowing with certainty if Dury's motives\nwere \"impure,\" especially since the exact date of the tract cannot be\ndetermined, no entry existing for it in the Stationers' Register.\nAccording to one of Dury's biographers, but with no reference to source,\nthe pamphlet was printed by William Dugard \"shortly after\" the latter's\nrelease from prison in the early spring of 1650.[9] The Calendar of\nState Papers and the records of Bulstrode Whitelocke indicate that Dury\nwas not officially considered for the library post before late summer\nand not appointed until 28 October.[10]\n\nThe contents of the letters themselves reveal Dury far ahead of his time\nin his conception of the Complete Librarian, but later commentators have\ngenerally not understood that the administrative reforms he advocated\nwere inseparable from his idea of the sacramental nature of the\nlibrarian's office--and so have tended to dismiss the second letter\nbecause it \"merely repeats the ideas of the first with less practical\nsuggestion and in a more declamatory style.\"[11] Such a comment\nillustrates how far we are from Dury's (and the age's) purposes and\nhopes, and it shows a great misunderstanding of the religious and moral\ncontext within which, for Dury, all human activity took place. As\nProfessor Popkin has shown, Dury considered libraries fundamental to the\npreparation for the millennium: they housed the texts indispensable to\nthe spread of learning, which in turn was prerequisite to religious\nunity and peace on earth and ultimately to the millennium itself; for\nwith enough of the right books, the Christian world could convert the\nJews, that final step which was to herald the reign of Christ on earth.\nWhen, in the second letter, Dury refers to the \"stewardship\" of the\nlibrarian he is speaking literally, not metaphorically.\n\nBut if libraries were to serve their purpose in the grand scheme--that\nis, to make texts easily available--extensive reforms were necessary,\nand that is the burden of the first letter. Dury's cardinal principle is\nthat libraries should be _useful_ to people: \"It is true that a fair\nLibrarie, is ... an ornament and credit to the place where it is [the\n'jewel box' concept]; ... yet in effect it is no more then a dead Bodie\nas now it is constituted, in comparison of what it might bee, if it were\nanimated with a publick Spirit to keep and use it, and _ordered as it\nmight bee for publick service_\" (p. 17, my emphasis). The public that\nDury refers to is an academic faculty and not the general public. To\ninsure fullest use he goes on to advocate the necessity of a _printed_\ncatalogue with yearly manuscript supplements to be issued as a\ncumulative printed supplement every three years. He does not reach the\npoint of proposing a call-number system but stresses the importance of\nshelf-location guides in the catalogue. He believes in aggressive\nacquisition policies and the necessity of good faculty-librarian\nrelations, with the former advising the latter of the important books in\ntheir fields of specialization. He urges what might now be called\n\"interlibrary loan\" and other forms of sharing. To keep the librarian on\nthe straight and narrow, apparently a recurrent problem in Dury's day,\nhe recommends an annual meeting of a faculty board of governors where\nthe librarian will give his annual report and put on an exhibition of\nthe books he has acquired. To allay the temptation to make a little\nmoney on the side by \"trading\" (Dury's obsessive term) in the library's\nbooks for his personal profit, the librarian is to receive\nadministrative support for his various expenses during the year and, as\na scholar working with other scholars within his university instead of\nas a mere factotum, the librarian is to receive an adequate salary\n(perhaps the only one of Dury's reforms that must wait until the\nmillennium).\n\nThe question remains to what extent Dury's duties as the deputy\nlibrarian of the King's Library allowed him to implement the reforms he\nadvocated on paper. The probable answer is, not very much. The\nlibrarian's duties and responsibilities described by Dury are those of\nan academic, university librarian, interacting with the faculty and\nparticipating fully in the intellectual life of a scholarly community.\nThe role of the librarian of the King's Library would have been that of\nkeeper of a static and isolated collection, and Dury is particularly\ncritical of a merely custodial role: \"... their emploiment,\" he writes\nof the typical librarian of his day, is \"of little or no use further,\nthen to look to the Books committed to their custodie, that they may not\nbee lost; or embezeled by those that use them: and this is all\" (p. 16).\n\nThe King's Library was unquestionably magnificent; Charles's father and\nbrother Henry had been particularly zealous in building it up, acquiring\nsuch collections as that of Isaac Casaubon. And Charles had been the\nrecipient in 1628 of perhaps its greatest single treasure, the Codex\nAlexandrinus, a fifth-century manuscript of the Bible in Greek,\ncertainly an item that would have interested Dury. The library had, in\nfact, great scholarly potential, but its continued existence was\napparently an embarrassment to the Commonwealth, and the Puritan\ngovernment merely wanted an overseer. So, by the determination of\nothers, the post of deputy keeper of the King's Library was little but a\nsinecure for Dury, leaving him free to pursue his many other interests\nbut powerless to implement the reforms he advocated in his pamphlet\nwithin the only library over which he ever had direct control. Though he\nretained the post until the Restoration, he left the library itself\nearly in 1654, never to return.\n\nThe _DNB_ notes that Dury's life was \"an incessant round of journeyings,\ncolloquies, correspondence, and publications.\" The account might also\nhave added that, sadly, it was a life of many failures and frustrations,\nsince his visionary scheme for the wholeness of life was so out of touch\nwith the jealousies and rivalries of those he encountered. But if the\nlarger vision that underlay _The Reformed Librarie-Keeper_ is now merely\na historical curiosity, the specific reforms that Dury advocated, as\nseemingly impractical in his own time as his other schemes, proved to be\nof lasting importance. Shorn of the millenarian vision that gave them\ntheir point in Dury's own day, his ideas have become the accepted\nstandards of modern librarianship. Dury himself would not have been\nheartened by his secular acceptance: \"... For except Sciences bee\nreformed in order to this Scope [of the Christian and millenarian\nvision], the increas of knowledg will increas nothing but strife, pride\nand confusion, from whence our sorrows will bee multiplied and\npropagated unto posteritie....\" (p. 31).\n\n_Thomas F. Wright\nWilliam Andrews Clark Memorial Library_\n\n\n\n\nNOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION\n\n\n[Footnote 1: For Dury's biography, see J. Minton Batten, _John Dury,\nAdvocate of Christian Reunion_ (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,\n1944).]\n\n[Footnote 2: On the relation of Dury, Hartlib, and Comenius, see G.H.\nTurnbull, _Hartlib, Dury and Comenius_ (Liverpool: University Press of\nLiverpool, 1947).]\n\n[Footnote 3: Hugh Trevor-Roper, \"Three Foreigners: The Philosophers of\nthe Puritan Revolution,\" in his _Religion, the Reformation, and Social\nChange, and Other Essays_, 2d ed. (London: Macmillan, 1972), 240.]\n\n[Footnote 4: On the philosophical and theological theories of Dury,\nHartlib, and Comenius, see Richard H. Popkin, \"The Third Force in\nSeventeenth-Century Philosophy, Scepticism, Science, and Biblical\nProphecy,\" _Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres_ (Spring 1983), and\nCharles Webster, _The Great Instauration: Science, Medicine, and Reform,\n1626-1660_ (London: Duckworth, 1975).]\n\n[Footnote 5: Quoted in Turnbull, 257.]\n\n[Footnote 6: _Athenae Oxonienses_, vol. 2 (London, 1692), col. 400.]\n\n[Footnote 7: The omitted works are _An Idea of Mathematicks_ by John\nPell (pp. 33-46) and _The description of one of the chiefest Libraries\nwhich is in Germanie_, attributed either to Julius Scheurl or J.\nSchwartzkopf (pp. [47]-65, in Latin). This seems to be the first\nprinting of _The description_, which was published separately at\nWolfenbuttel in 1653. John Pell's essay was written around 1630-34 and\nwas prepared for publication in 1634 by Hartlib, but was only actually\npublished as an addition to _The Reformed Librarie-Keeper_. It was of\nsome importance in making mathematics better known at the time.]\n\n[Footnote 8: \"John Durie's _Reformed Librarie-Keeper_ and Its Author's\nCareer as a Librarian,\" _The Library_, 1st ser. 4 (1892), 82.]\n\n[Footnote 9: Ruth Shepard Granniss, \"Biographical Sketch,\" _The Reformed\nLibrarie-Keeper_ (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1906), 31-32.]\n\n[Footnote 10: See \"John Durie's _Reformed Librarie-Keeper_,\" 83.]\n\n[Footnote 11: Richard Garnett, \"Librarianship in the Seventeenth\nCentury,\" in his _Essays in Librarianship and Bibliography_ (New York:\nF.P. Harper, 1899), 187.]\n\n\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE\n\n\n_The Reformed Librarie Keeper With a Supplement to the Reformed School_\n(1650) is reproduced from the copy in the Folger Shakespeare Library\n(Shelf Mark D2882/Bd w/D2883). A typical type page (p. 7) measures 107 x\n56 mm. Not reproduced here are two additional parts in the original\nvolume: _An Idea of Mathematicks_ by John Pell and _The description of\none of the chiefest Libraries which is in Germanie_, attributed either\nto Julius Scheurl or J. Schwartzkopf.\n\n\n\n\nTHE REFORMED LIBRARIE-KEEPER\n\nWith a Supplement to the\n\nReformed-School,\n\nAs subordinate to Colleges in Universities.\n\n\n_BY_\n\nJOHN DURIE.\n\n\nWhereunto is added\n\nI. An idea of _Mathematicks_.\n\nII. The description of one of the chiefest Libraries which is in\n_Germanie_, erected and ordered by one of the most Learned Princes in\n_Europe_.\n\n\n_LONDON_,\n\nPrinted by _William Du-Gard_, and are to bee sold by _Rob. Littleberrie_\nat the sign of the _Unicorn_ in Little _Britain_. 1650.\n\n\n\n\nTo the Reader.\n\n\n_Learned Reader!_\n\n_These Tracts are the fruits of som of my Sollicitations and\nNegotiations for the advancement of Learning. And I hope they may in\ntime becom somwhat effectual to rais thy Spirit to the exspectation of\ngreater things, which may bee raised upon such grounds as these. All\nwhich are but preparatives towards that perfection which wee may exspect\nby the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ, wherein the Communion of\nSaints, by the graces of the Spirit, will swallow up all these poor\nRudiments of knowledg, which wee now grope after by so manie helps; and\ntill then in those endeavors I rest in the Truth._\n\nThy faithfull and\n  unwearied servant\n\n  SAMUEL HARTLIB.\n\n\n\n\nA SUPPLEMENT TO THE _Reformed School_.\n\n\n_Loving freind!_\n\nYou have offered to mee that which I confess I did not reflect upon,\nwhen I wrote the discours you have Published under the name of a\n_Reformed School_; which is, that som may think by the waie of\nEducation, which I propose all Universities and eminent places of\nLearning might subtilly bee undermined and made useless, becaus therein\na waie is shew'd how to initiate youths not onely to the Principles of\nall Religious and Rational knowledg, and in the Exercises of all Moral\nvirtues, but in the grounds of all Civil emploiments, so far, as will\nmake them fit for all profitable undertakings in humane societies,\nwhence this will follow (in their apprehensions) that they shall have no\nadvantage by beeing sent to anie Universities, to attein anie further\nperfection: becaus the Universities will not bee able to add anie thing\nunto them, which by their own Industrie, they may not afterward attein\nanie where els, as well as there. Truly it never came into my thoughts,\neither directly or indirectly to make Universities useless; nor can it\nbee rationally infer'd from anie thing in the matter form or end of that\ndiscours of mine: but I will grant that such as can see no farther then\nwhat wee now ordinarily attein unto; and withal think that there is no\n_Plus ultra_ in nature atteinable above that which they have conceived,\nsuch as I saie may frame to themselv's this jealousie against that\ndiscours: but if they would rais their thoughts with mee a little above\nthe ordinarie pitch, and consider what the Nature of man is capable off:\nand how far it may, by diligent instruction, by Method and\nCommunication, bee improved: they might rather bee induced to make this\ninference, if the natural abilities of youths in a School (when\nreformed) may bee thus far improved: how far more may they bee improved,\nwhen they are past the age of Youth, and com to Manhood in Colleges and\nUniversities, if namely Colleges and Universities, could in the sphere\nof their activities bee proportionally Reformed, as the Schools may bee\nin their sphere: for it is rational to conclude thus: if the first step\nof our Reformation will lead us thus far, how far will the second and\nthird lead us? and if Scholastical Exercises in Youths of eighteen or\ntwentie years, will advance them to that perfection of Learning and\nVirtues, which few of double their age or none almost ever attein unto,\nwhat will Collegial and Academical Exercises (if reformed and set upon\ntheir proper Objects) bring them unto? I shall therefore to eas you, or\nsuch as may have this scruple and jealousie over mee, declare that my\npurpose is so far from making Colleges and Universities useless, that if\nI might have my desire in them, they should becom a thousand times more\nuseful then now they are, that is, as far above the ordinarie State\nwherein they are set, as this School is above the ordinarie waie of\nSchooling: for if wee look upon the true and proper ends of School,\nCollege and Universitie-studies and Exercises, wee shall see that as in\nnature they are in a gradual proportion, distant from, and subordinate\nunto each other, so they ought to rise one out of another, and bee built\nupon each other's Foundations.\n\nThe true and proper end of Schooling is to teach and Exercise Children\nand Youths in the Grounds of all Learning and Virtues, so far as either\ntheir capacitie in that age will suffer them to com, or is requisite to\napprehend the principles of useful matters, by which they may bee made\nable to exercise themselvs in everie good Employment afterwards by\nthemselvs, and as the Proverb is, _sine Cortice natare_. The true and\nproper end of Colleges should bee to bring together into one Societie\nsuch as are able thus to Exercise themselvs in anie or all kind of\nStudies, that by their mutual Association, Communication, and Assistance\nin Reading, Meditating and conferring about profitable matters, they may\nnot onely perfit their own Abilities, but advance the superstructures of\nall Learning to that perfection, which by such means is attainable. And\nthe true and proper End of Universities, should bee to publish unto the\nWorld the Matters, which formerly have not been published; to discover\nthe Errors and hurtfulness of things mistaken for Truths; and to supplie\nthe defects and _desiderata_, which may bee servicable to all sorts of\nProfessions.\n\nNow according to those aimes and ends, I suppose it may bee inferred,\nthat none should bee dismissed out of the Schools, till they are able\nto make use of all sorts of Books, and direct themselvs profitably in\neverie cours of Studie or Action, whereunto their _Genius_ shall lead\nthem; and that none should bee admitted into anie Colleges, but such as\nwill join with others, to elaborate som profitable Tasks, for the\nAdvancement and facilitating of superstructures in things already by som\ndiscovered, but not made common unto all; And that none should bee made\nPublick Professors in Universities, but such as have not onely a Publick\naim, but som approved Abilities, to supply som defects and to Elaborate\nsom _desiderata_ of usefull knowledg, or to direct such as are studious,\nhow to order their thoughts in all Matters of search and Meditation, for\nthe discoverie of things not hitherto found out by others; but which in\nprobabilitie may bee found out by rational searching.\n\nThus then I conceiv, that in a well-Reformed Common wealth, which is to\nbee subordinate unto the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, wherein the Glorie of\nGod, the happiness of the nature of man: and the Glorious libertie of\nthe Sons of God is to bee revealed; all the subjects thereof should in\ntheir Youth bee trained up in som Schools fit for their capacities, and\nthat over these Schools, som Overseers should bee appointed to look to\nthe cours of their Education, to see that none should bee left destitute\nof som benefit of virtuous breeding, according to the several kinds of\nemploiments, whereunto they may bee found most fit and inclinable,\nwhether it bee to bear som civil Office in the Common-wealth, or to bee\nMechanically emploied, or to bee bred to teach others humane Sciences,\nor to bee imploied in Prophetical Exercises. As for this School, which\nat this time I have delineated, it is proper to such of the Nobilitie,\nGentrie and better sort of Citizens, which are fit to bee made capable\nto bear Offices in the Common-wealth: the other Schools may bee spoken\noff in due time, so far as they are distinct from this, but that which\nnow I have to suggest is chiefly this, that as out of the Schools the\nchois, which ought to bee made for Colleges, ought, _Caeteris paribus_,\nonely to bee of such as are most fit to Advance the Ends of a Collegial\nAssociation; so out of Colleges a chois ought to bee made of Professors\nfor the Universitie onely, of such as are fitted to advance the Ends of\nPublick teaching in Universities, which are not to Repeat and\nCompendiate that which others have published twentie times already,\nover and over again, but to add unto the Common stock of humane\nknowledg, that which others have not observed, to the end that all these\ndegrees of Studies and Exercises of the minde of man, beeing subordinate\nunto the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the happiness of Man by all Rational\nand Spiritual waies of improving humane Abilities, may bee advanced unto\nit's perfection in this life so far as may bee.\n\nBut how far short wee com now of all these designs, I need not to relate\nunto you: the Colleges as they are now Conformed, can scarce reach to\nthe half of that which the Schools might bring us unto: and the\nProfessors of the Universities com not up to that, which the Collegial\nAssociations might elaborate, if they were rightly directed to set their\nTalents at work; and if the publick Spirit of Christian love and\ningenuitie did possess those, that are possessed of publick places in\nthe Colleges of the Universities. For if this Spirit did rule their Aims\nand Endevors, there would bee no self-seeking, no partialitie, no envie,\nnor anie cross actings for private ends, to the prejudice of the\nPublick; but the generous love of virtue and of profitable Learning,\nwould swaie all their inclinations to a free conjunction; and make all\ntheir endeavors subordinate unto the publick good of the Common-wealth\nof Israel in the Communion of Saints. But how far this Principle of\nacting is now wanting amongst us all, I shall not need to mention: you\nhave considered it long ago, and wee have together lamented that defect,\nand the doleful effects thereof: our endevor must bee to seek out the\nbest means of a Reformation therein, and to make use of them as God\nshall give us opportunities. And truly somthing of this kinde might bee\ndon, without anie great alteration or stir, even as matters now are\nformed in the Colleges; if God would bee so gracious to us, as to beget\nin the mindes of those that understand those things, a heartie Aim and\nResolution to benefit the Christian Common-wealth of Learning, by their\nCollegial Relations and Associations one to another. For if men that are\ningenuous will call to minde the end first, for which God doth give them\nall their Talents, and then also for which men of publick Spirits have\nerected Colleges and Universities, and endowed the same with long and\ncompetent maintenances; that such as are fit for Studies, and called to\nbee Instrumental in the propagation of Truth and Virtue, might not bee\ndistracted with the care of the World, in reference to outward matters,\nbut might have all the conveniences which are imaginable to improve\nthose Talents to the utmost, either singly, or conveniently with others,\nif (I saie) ingenuous Christians would minde these ends, for which the\nbenefit of their Talents from God and of their accommodations from men\nto improve those Talents are bestowed upon them: it would not bee\npossible for them; to be so unthankful towards God, and avers from the\nrule of Christianitie, and from the love of doing good to the generation\nwherein they live; that they should intend to lead a Collegial life\nonely for their own private eas and conveniencie in outward things; that\nbeeing accommodated with all necessarie helps of the Bodie, they may\npleas themselvs onely in the cours of their Studies, with that\nReservation and Retiredness, which is proper to a Monkish life in Popish\nCloisters; wherein the Spirit of Mutual envie, of detraction and\ndivision is more irreconcilably entertained, then in anie other\nSocieties of the World. For their Cloister-constitutions, obliging them\nonely to the observation of som formal works as an _opus operatum_; for\nwhich their maintenance is allowed them; they not knowing anie further\ndesign of their life, or any greater happiness in this World, then to\npleas themselvs; bestow all the rest of their time and thoughts, as\ntheir natural inclinations lead them, which is commonly to nothing els\nbut to self-love and Pride, which became a Provocation unto others, to\ndiscover mutually their corruptions, which by reaction make them all\nfull of envie, of hatred, of evil surmises, and of malicious practices\none against another: so that no where Satan doth dwel and rule more\neffectually, then in those Religious Houses, as they are falsly so\ncalled. How much of this Monkish disposition doth remain as yet in the\nformal Constitutions of Colleges, or in the Spirits of those that\npartake of Collegial accommodations, is not a thing which I shall take\nupon me to Judg; but I shall leav it to God, and to his daie to\ndiscover; onely I would bee glad that all such as are true Israelites,\nand know the end of their calling unto Christ, and are not willing to\nburie their Talents, or to make them useless unto others, for whose\nfakes they have received them would laie this matter to heart, that\ntheir Aim in a Collegial life, should not bee to enjoie an easie\ncareless waie of subsistence by and for themselvs, to follow private\nfancies in their Studies about matters of Learning; but that they\nshould minde the stewardship of their gifts and places, and the\nadvantages of their Association, whereby they might bee, (if they would\nmake use of it) able to elaborate som tasks, which otherwise cannot bee\nbrought to anie perfection, for the building up of the Citie of God in\nour generations. There is no want of parts and abilities in the Spirits\nof our men, but the waie to order them for publick life, and to bring\nthem together as stones fitly compacted to make up a perfect Palace, is\nthat which make's us all useless one to another; wee finde that now and\nthen, as it were by chance, som exquisite pieces of Learning, which som\nhave been hatching all their life time drop out; wherein appear's,\nbesides the usefulness of the Subject, or the uselesness thereof, som\ninclination to bee found extraordinarie; but these endevors, disjointed\nfrom publick Aims, advance little or nothing, the Happiness, which true\nLearning rightly ordered in all the parts thereof; and Subordinate unto\nChristianitie, is able to bring unto Mankind. Such pieces therefore serv\nonely as a witness, to shew what wast there is of profitable time and\nabilities, for want of loving combinations for publick Designs. It is\nthe observation of Forreigners concerning our Universities, that they\nfinde in them men of as great learning as any where els; but that they\nlie as it were dead and unknown to the whole world of other men of\nLearning; becaus they delight to live a retired and unsociable life:\nthis humor therefore amongst other parts of our Reformation, must by som\nGospel-principles and Rational inducements bee Reformed, not onely in\nColleges but in other Associations. The Lord teach us the waie of Truth\nand Righteousness, that wee may profit in all things to advance the\nglorie of his name in the Kingdom of his Son, in whom I rest\n\n_Your friend and servant_.\n\nJ.D.\n\n\n\n\nTHE REFORMED LIBRARIE-KEEPER.\n\nBY\n\nJOHN DURIE.\n\n\n_LONDON_,\n\nPrinted by _William Du-gard_,\n\n_Anno Dom._ 1650.\n\n\nTHE _Reformed Librarie-Keeper_:\n\nOR\n\nTwo copies of Letters concerning the Place and Office of a\nLibrarie-Keeper.\n\n\n_The first Letter._\n\nThe Librarie-Keeper's place and Office, in most Countries (as most other\nplaces and Offices both in Churches and Universities) are lookt upon, as\nPlaces of profit and gain, and so accordingly sought after and valued in\nthat regard; and not in regard of the service, which is to bee don by\nthem unto the Common-wealth of Israel, for the advancement of Pietie and\nLearning; for the most part, men look after the maintenance, and\nlivelihood setled upon their Places, more then upon the end and\nusefulness of their emploiments; they seek themselvs and not the Publick\ntherein, and so they subordinate all the advantages of their places, to\npurchase mainly two things thereby _viz._ an easie subsistence; and som\ncredit in comparison of others; nor is the last much regarded, if the\nfirst may bee had; except it bee in cases of strife and debate, wherein\nmen are over-heated: for then indeed som will stand upon the point of\nHonor, to the hazard of their temporal profits: but to speak in\nparticular of Librarie-Keepers, in most Universities that I know; nay\nindeed in all, their places are but Mercenarie, and their emploiment of\nlittle or no use further, then to look to the Books committed to their\ncustodie, that they may not bee lost; or embezeled by those that use\nthem: and this is all.\n\nI have been informed, that in Oxford (where the most famous Librarie now\nexstant amongst Protestant-Christians is kept,) the setled maintenance\nof the Librarie-keeper is not above fiftie or sixtie pound _per annum_;\nbut that it is accidentally, _viis & modis_ somtimes worth an hundred\npound: what the accidents are, and the waies by which they com, I have\nnot been curious to search after; but I have thought, that if the proper\nemploiments of Librarie-keepers were taken into consideration as they\nare, or may bee made useful to the advancement of Learning; and were\nordered and mainteined proportionally to the ends, which ought to bee\nintended thereby; they would bee of exceeding great use to all sorts of\nScholars, and have an universal influence upon all the parts of\nLearning, to produce and propagate the same unto perfection. For if\nLibrarie-keepers did understand themselvs in the nature of their work,\nand would make themselvs, as they ought to bee, useful in their places\nin a publick waie; they ought to becom Agents for the advancement of\nuniversal Learning: and to this effect I could wish, that their places\nmight not bee made, as everie where they are, Mercenarie, but rather\nHonorarie; and that with the competent allowance of two hundred pounds a\nyear; som emploiments should bee put upon them further then a bare\nkeeping of the Books. It is true that a fair Librarie, is not onely an\nornament and credit to the place where it is; but an useful commoditie\nby it self to the publick; yet in effect it is no more then a dead Bodie\nas now it is constituted, in comparison of what it might bee, if it were\nanimated with a publick Spirit to keep and use it, and ordered as it\nmight bee for publick service. For if such an allowance were setled upon\nthe emploiment as might maintain a man of parts and generous thoughts,\nthen a condition might bee annexed to the bestowing of the Place; that\nnone should bee called thereunto but such as had approved themselvs\nzealous and profitable in som publick waies of Learning to advance the\nsame, or that should bee bound to certain tasks to bee prosecuted\ntowards that end, whereof a List might bee made, and the waie to trie\ntheir Abilities in prosecuting the same should bee described, least in\nafter times, unprofitable men creep into the place, to frustrate the\npublick of the benefit intended by the Doners towards posteritie. The\nproper charge then of the Honorarie Librarie-Keeper in a Universitie\nshould bee thought upon, and the end of that Imploiment, in my\nconception, is to keep the publick stock of Learning, which is in Books\nand Manuscripts to increas it, and to propose it to others in the waie\nwhich may bee most useful unto all; his work then is to bee a Factor and\nTrader for helps to Learning, and a Treasurer to keep them, and a\ndispenser to applie them to use, or to see them well used, or at least\nnot abused; And to do all this, First a _Catalogue_, of the Treasurie\ncommitted unto his charge is to bee made, that is all the Books and\nManuscripts, according to the Titles whereunto they belong, are to bee\nranked in an order most easie and obvious to bee found, which I think is\nthat of Sciences and Languages; when first all the Books are divided\ninto their _subjectam materiam_ whereof they Treat, and then everie\nkinde of matter subdivided into their several Languages: And as the\nCatalogue should bee so made, that it may alwaies bee augmented as the\nstock doth increas; so the place in the Librarie must bee left open for\nthe increas of the number of Books in their proper Seats, and in the\nPrinted Catalogue, a Reference is to bee made to the place where the\nBooks are to bee found in their Shelvs or repositories. When the stock\nis thus known and fitted to bee exposed to the view of the Learned\nWorld, Then the waie of Trading with it, both at home and abroad, is to\nbee laid to heart both for the increas of the stock, and for the\nimprovement of it to use. For the increas of the stock both at home and\nabroad, correspondencie should bee held with those that are eminent in\neverie Science, to Trade with them for their profit, that what they want\nand wee have, they may receiv upon condition, that what they have and\nwee want, they should impart in that facultie where their eminencie doth\nlie; As for such as are at home eminent in anie kinde, becaus they may\ncom by Native right to have use of the Librarie-Treasure, they are to\nbee Traded withal in another waie, _viz._ that the things which are\ngained from abroad, which as yet are not made common, and put to publick\nuse should bee promised and imparted to them for the increas of their\nprivate stock of knowledg, to the end that what they have peculiar, may\nalso bee given in for a requital, so that the particularities of gifts\nat home and abroad, are to meet as in a Center in the hand of the\nLibrarie-keeper, and hee is to Trade with the one by the other, to caus\nthem to multiplie the publick stock, whereof hee is a Treasurer and\nFactor.\n\nThus hee should Trade with those that are at home and abroad out of the\nUniversitie, and with those that are within the Universitie, hee should\nhave acquaintance to know all that are of anie parts, and how their vein\nof Learning doth lie, to supplie helps unto them in their faculties from\nwithout and from within the Nation, to put them upon the keeping of\ncorrespondencie with men of their own strain, for the beating out of\nmatters not yet elaborated in Sciences; so that they may bee as his\nAssistants and subordinate Factors in his Trade and in their own for\ngaining of knowledg: Now becaus in all publick Agencies, it is fit that\nsom inspection should bee had over those that are intrusted therewith,\ntherefore in this Factorie and Trade for the increas of Learning, som\ntie should bee upon those Librarie-keepers to oblige them to\ncarefulness.\n\nI would then upon this account, have an Order made that once in the\nyear, the Librarie-keeper should bee bound to give an account of his\nTrading, and of his Profit in his Trade (as in all humane Trades Factors\nought, and use to do to their principals at least once a year) and to\nthis effect I would have it ordered, that the chief Doctors of each\nfacultie of the Universitie, should meet at a Convenient time in a week\nof the year, to receiv the Accounts of his Trading, that hee may shew\nthem wherein the stock of Learning hath been increased, for that year's\nspace; and then hee is to produce the particulars which he hath gained\nfrom abroad, and laie them before them all, that everie one in his own\nfacultie may declare in the presence of others, that which he thinketh\nfit to bee added to the publick stock, and made common by the Catalogue\nof Additionals, which everie year within the Universities is to bee\npublished in writing within the Librarie it self, and everie three\nyears (or sooner as the number of Additionals may bee great, or later,\nif it bee smal) to bee put in Print and made common to those that are\nabroad. And at this giving up of the accounts, as the Doctors are to\ndeclare what they think worthie to bee added to the common stock of\nLearning, each in their Facultie; so I would have them see what the\nCharges and Pains are whereat the Librarie-Keeper hath been, that for\nhis encouragement, the extraordinarie expences in correspondencies and\ntranscriptions for the publick good, may bee allowed him out of som\nRevenues, which should bee set a part to that effect, and disposed of\naccording to their joint-content and judgment in that matter. Here then\nhee should bee bound to shew them the Lists of his correspondents, the\nLetters from them in Answer to his, and the reckoning of his\nextraordinarie expence should bee allowed him in that which hee is\nindebted, or hath freely laid out to procure Rarities into the stock of\nLearning. And becaus I understand that all the Book-Printers or\nStationars of the Common-wealth are bound of everie Book which is\nPrinted, to send a Copie into the Universitie Librarie; and it is\nimpossible for one man to read all the Books in all Faculties, to judg\nof them what worth there is in them; nor hath everie one Abilitie to\njudg of all kinde of Sciences what everie Autor doth handle, and how\nsufficiently; therefore I would have at this time of giving accounts,\nthe Librarie-keeper also bound to produce the Catalogue of all the Books\nsent unto the Universitie's Librarie by the Stationars that Printed\nthem; to the end that everie one of the Doctors in their own Faculties\nshould declare, whether or no they should bee added, and where they\nshould bee placed in the Catalogue of Additionals; For I do not think\nthat all Books and Treaties which in this age are Printed in all kindes,\nshould bee inserted into the Catalogue, and added to the stock of the\nLibrarie, discretion must bee used and confusion avoided, and a cours\ntaken to distinguish that which is profitable, from that which is\nuseless; and according to the verdict of that Societie, the usefulness\nof Books for the publick is to bee determined; yet becaus there is\nseldom anie Books wherein there is not somthing useful, and Books freely\ngiven are not to bee cast away, but may bee kept, therefore I would have\na peculiar place appointed for such Books as shall bee laid aside to\nkeep them in, and a Catalogue of their Titles made Alphabetically in\nreference to the Autor's name, with a note of distinction to shew the\nScience to which they are to bee referred. These thoughts com thus\nsuddenly into my head, which in due time may bee more fully described,\nif need bee, chiefly if, upon the ground of this account, som\ncompetencie should bee found out and allowed to maintein such charges as\nwill bee requisite, towards the advancement of the Publick good of\nLearning after this manner.\n\n\nThe second Letter.\n\n_Sir!_\n\nIn my last I gave you som incident thoughts, concerning the improvement\nof an Honorarie Librarie-keeper's place, to shew the true end and use\nthereof, and how the keepers thereof should bee regulated in the Trade,\nwhich hee is to drive for the Advancement of Learning, and encouraged by\na competent maintenance, and supported in extraordinarie expences for\nthe same. Now I wish that som men of publick Spirits and lovers of\nLearning, might bee made acquainted with the Action, upon such grounds\nas were then briefly suggested; who know's but that in time somthing\nmight bee offered to the Trustees of the Nation, with better conceptions\nthen these I have suggested.\n\nFor, if it bee considered that amongst manie Eminencies of this Nation,\nthe Librarie of Oxford is one of the most considerable for the\nadvancement of Learning, if rightly improved and Traded withal for the\ngood of Scholars at home and abroad; If this (I saie) bee rightly\nconsidered and represented to the publick Reformers of this age, that\nby this means this Nation as in other things, so especially for Pietie\nand Learning, and by the advancement of both, may now bee made more\nglorious then anie other in the world; No doubt such as in the Parlament\nknow the worth of Learning will not bee avers from further overtures,\nwhich may bee made towards this purpose. What a great stir hath been\nheretofore, about the Eminencie of the Librarie of Heidelberg, but what\nuse was made of it? It was ingrossed into the hands of a few, till it\nbecame a Prey unto the Enemies of the Truth. If the Librarie-keeper had\nbeen a man, that would have traded with it for the increas of true\nLearning, it might have been preserved unto this daie in all the\nrarities thereof, not so much by the shuttings up of the multitude of\nBooks, and the rareness thereof for antiquitie, as by the understandings\nof men and their proficiencie to improv and dilate knowledg upon the\ngrounds which hee might have suggested unto others of parts, and so the\nLibrarie-rarities would not onely have been preserved in the spirits of\nmen, but have fructified abundantly therein unto this daie, whereas they\nare now lost, becaus they were but a Talent digged in the ground; And\nas they that had the keeping of that Librarie made it an Idol, to bee\nrespected and worshipped for a raritie by an implicite faith, without\nanie benefit to those who did esteem of it a far off: so it was just\nwith God that it should fall into the hands of those that in all things\nfollow an Idolatrous waie, to blinde men with shewes without all\nrealitie of substantial virtue, which is onely eminent in this, that it\nbecometh profitable unto all, by dilating the light of knowledg, and the\nlove of grace and goodness in the hearts of all men, that are fit to\nreceiv the one and the other; And where this Aim is not in those that\nare intrusted with publick places; there they in the end will bee found\nunprofitable servants; for the trust which God hath put into their hands\nto profit withal, they discharge not for the account which everie one is\nto give unto him of his Stewardship, is not how careful hee hath kept\nthings of use unto himself, to pride himself in the possession of that\nwhich others have not, (as the custom of men is, that know not what true\nglorie is) but how faithfully and diligently hee hath distributed the\nsame to such as were worthie thereof for their good, that they might bee\nstirred up both to glorifie God for his goodness; and to imitate him in\nthe Communication of all good things unto others for his sake freely.\nThis was Christ's Work on Earth to receiv us, unto the Glorie of God;\nthis was that which hee taught by this practice, that it is _more\nblessed to give, then to receiv_. This is that which this envious World\ncannot rellish, and what stop's the current of true love in the hearts\nof men? Nothing so much as the self-seeking of men in the waies of\nLearning, by which they covetously obstruct the fountains of life and\ncomfort, which might overflow and water abundantly the barren and\nthirstie Souls of those that perish for want of address unto wisdom;\nwhich in all the waies of humane and divine Learning might bee mainly\nadvanced, by the industrie of one man in such a place, whose Trade\nshould bee such as I formerly described, to deal with the spirits of all\nmen of parts, to set them a working one by and towards another, upon the\nsubjects which hee should bee intrusted withal to keep in the stock of\nLearning. It is the Glorie and Riches of Nations and of great Cities, to\nmake themselvs the Center of Trade for all their Neighbors; and if they\ncan finde waies of politie, to oblige their Neighbors to receiv from\ntheir Magazines the Commodities whereof they stand in need, it is\neverie waie a great benefit unto the State, so it may bee in matters of\nLearning, and by the Trade of Sciences this Church may oblige all the\nNeighbor Churches, and that Universitie all Forreiners that Trade in\nknowledg to receiv pretious Commodities, whereof they stand in need,\nfrom our Magazines and Storehouses; if a painful Steward and dispenser\nthereof, bee imploied and mainteined to use industrie for so blessed a\nwork, from whence much Glorie to God in the Gospel, and honor will\nredound to the Nation. For although the waies of humane Learning are\nalmost infinite and wonderfully various, and have their peculiar uses in\nthe outward life of man, for which most men affect them, yet in one that\nis to minde the universal good of all, the whole varietie and diversitie\nof matters useful unto this present life, as they com within the sphere\nof Learning must bee reduced, and may bee subordinate unto the\nadvancement of the Gospel of Christ, wherein the Glorie of the Nation,\nat this and all times should bee thought to stand: And truly that is the\nthing which take's most with mee, for which I would have that Librarie\nthus improved by a faithful keeper, that when his Trade is set on foot,\nwith all those that are of eminent parts in their several faculties,\nwee knowing who they are and wherein their eminencies do lie, may have\nopportunities to provoke them to the right use thereof, by giving them\nObjects from our store; and furnishing them with tasks and matters to\nbee elaborated, which cannot bee diverted from the scope of God's glorie\nto bee made known unto all men in Jesus Christ, for there is nothing of\nknowledg in the minde of man, which may not bee conveniently referred to\nthe virtues of God in Christ, whereby the humane nature is to bee\nexalted to that dignitie whereunto hee hath received it, that it should\nby him rule over the whole Creation. And the want of this Aim to look\nupon things in order to him, and to set them a working without relation\nto him, is that which blast's all our endevors, and make's them determin\nin confusion and disorder; For whatsoever is not directed in it's own\nplace with som reference unto him must bee overthrown; nor is there anie\nwaie left for anie to prosper in that which hee undertaketh, but to\nlearn to know him and respect him in it, for the advancement of the\nKingdom over the Souls of men, which by the Sanctified use of all\nknowledg is chiefly effected. If then the Trade of Learning is to bee\nset a foot in a publick waie, and regulated to deserv the countenance\nof a Religious State, this Aim, and the waie of prosecuting of it must\nbee intended and beaten out; For except Sciences bee reformed in order\nto this Scope, the increas of knowledg will increas nothing but strife,\npride and confusion, from whence our sorrows will bee multiplied and\npropagated unto posteritie; but if hee, who is to bee intrusted with the\nmanaging of this Trade, bee addressed in the waie which leadeth unto\nthis Aim without partialitie, his negotiation will bee a blessing unto\nthis age and to posteritie.\n\nI have no time to inlarge upon this Subject, or to conceiv a formal and\nregular discours, but the thoughts which thus fall into my minde I\nimpart unto you, that you may give them as hints unto others, who of\nthemselvs will bee able to inlarge them either to the Hous, or to such\nas can in due time swaie the Counsels of leading men in this\nCommon-wealth.","title":"The Reformed Librarie-Keeper (1650)","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":10342}