Durie, John

Name: John Durie

Achievements: 17^th century advocate of Protestant unity and educational reform

Born: 1596; Edinburgh, Scotland

Died: September 26, 1680; Kassel, Germany (Aged 84)

Field & Discipline: Religion; Education; Clergy

Language: English

Father: Robert Durie

Mother: Elizabeth Ramsey

Siblings: 3 brothers

Spouse: Name Unknown (aunt of Lady Ranelagh -- sister of Robert Boyle)

Children: Dora Durie

Education: Privately at home; Schools, Leyden; University of Leyden; French Huguenot Academy, Sedan

Life & Times:

Durie was born into a family of free-church clergy. When he was ten, his father was expelled from Scotland after opposing the attempts of  James I to impose Anglican bishops.

The family settled in Leyden where Durie received his schooling and university education. His theological training was completed at the Huguenot Academy in Sedan. During these years, Durie had witnessed at first hand the divisions within the church caused by Arminianism, Calvinism and Lutheranism.  From 1621-23 he was tutor to the son of a wealthy Dutch merchant and in 1624 he spent time at Oxford where he witnessed the split between Puritans and others in the Anglican church.

He began his own ministry at Elbing in Germany with a congregation of English and Scots Presbyterians connected with the Merchant Adventurers trading company. Two years later the town was occupied by the Swedish Protestant leader [influenced by] Gustavus Adolphus*.  In Elbing, Durie became friendly with [a pal of] Hartlib*, a merchant with many connections with reformer clergymen in Germany.

In 1628 Durie met Dr Caspar Godemann, a Swedish privy councillor, whom Gustavus Adolphus had made President of the Court of Appeals in the new Swedish administration in Elbing. Godemann, like Gustavus, was convinced of the need for an alliance between the Lutheran and Reformed Churches to counterbalance the power of the Catholic church. He persuaded Durie to devote his life to Christian reunion.

Durie began his mission by extending his contacts in Prussia and in cultivating influential men such as Axel Oxenstierna, the Swedish governor general of West Prussia, and Sir Thomas Roe, an English diplomat who acted as Durie's patron over the following ten years.

In 1630 Durie went to England, arriving there at a time when religious disagreements between Puritans, Presbyterians and the supporters of Archbishop [sought support of] Laud* were growing rapidly. His appeals to [sought support of] Charles I* and Laud for help in reconciling the Lutheran and Reformed Churches in Germany were greeted with indifference.

He returned to the continent the following year, aiming to further the cause of Christian

unity on travels through Germany and Holland, and also to investigate new methods of education and new inventions. He was soon urging a union of all Protestant churches and calling for a general assembly to do so.

In 1633 he returned to England and,  as part of an attempt to win the support of Laud and Charles I for a union of continental Protestant churches, Durie agreed to subject himself to ordination as a bishop. This was a cause for concern among the Scottish Presbyterians he met on a visit north in 1634. From 1635-40 he worked on the continent.

In 1636 he was invited to Sweden, a project encouraged by the Dutch lawyer [encouraged by] Grotius* who believed that if England and Sweden could come to an agreement on a common confession of faith, the other Scandinavian countries would follow. Durie's work in Sweden was abortive and in 1638 [banished by] Christina*  of Sweden signed an order banishing him.

Durie was often poverty stricken and after Roe failed to gain him an appointment as chaplain to the English ambassador in Hamburg, he returned to England in 1641. In between calling for unity between the Scottish Presbyterians and the English Puritans, Durie involved himself in the movement for educational reform being promoted by Hartlib and by [involved with] Komensky*, who arrived in London in 1641.

He supported new educational methods for teaching language and science by experiment,

practical experience and observation, and wrote several treatises for use in schools and for training teachers. Durie saw educational improvement as a means to promoting Christian unity.

In 1642 his financial situation was helped when he went to the Hague as tutor and royal chaplain to Princess Mary, the daughter of Charles I who had been married to the Protestant prince William, son of Frederick of Orange. He was unhappy there, partly because Mary was uninterested in learning but mostly because he was unable to pursue his plans for Christian unity. He became minister to the Merchant Adventurers in Rotterdam in 1644 and in 1645 he was summoned back to England to attend a clerical assembly.

He remained in England for almost a decade,  during which time he married a wealthy Irish woman, was appointed by Parliament as tutor to the younger children of Charles I, and was given charge of the library at St James's palace. He protested against the trial

and execution of the king but afterwards worked with the new government.

After [supported by] Cromwell* became Lord Protector of England  in 1653, Durie had the support of the government and the English universities for his work. In 1654 he left England and travelled through the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland in a renewed effort to unify the Protestant churches.

His success was limited, partly because Protestant rulers, including Cromwell, were always more interested in political alliances than in Protestant unity. In 1657 Durie managed to obtain a declaration from the English parliament in support of a pan-Protestant political alliance but after Cromwell's death in 1659 the project lapsed.

At the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660 he petitioned [petitioned] Charles II* for support  but was brushed off. He was also relieved of his office as library keeper, and returned to the continent. With no powerful political patron, Durie continued to work for educational  reform and his ideal of Protestant unity for the rest of his life.

He settled in Kassel where the landgrave of Hesse was a supporter,  and from there

travelled in Switzerland, the Netherlands and all over Germany. In 1666 his only child, [daughter was] Dora Durie*, married [son-in-law was] Oldenburg*, the secretary of the Royal Society in England. Durie was visited at Kassel by many Puritans and Protestants, including the Quaker [visited by] William Penn* (in 1677). He remained at Kassel and died there in 1680.

Extra Connections: He corresponded with [corresponded with] Andreae*

Assessment: Durie was a tireless worker for Protestant unity among the different Reformed Churches on the continent and among Presbyterians, Puritans and Anglicans in England.

Oneliner: John Durie, 17^th century promoter of Protestant unity

Bibliography:

• Minton Batten, J.,  John Durie, Advocate of Christian Reunion, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1944.