nt and editor of these letters, claims that they and the
other, disparate works he selected for the volume are all "_fruits of
som of my Solicitations and Negotiations for the advancement of
Learning_" and as such "_are but preparatives towards that perfection
which wee may exspect by the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ,
wherein the Communion of Saints, by the graces of the Spirit, will
swallow up all these poor Rudiments of knowledg, which wee now grope
after by so manie helps_" (sig. A2r-v).

There is, in fact, no way of knowing with certainty if Dury's motives
were "impure," especially since the exact date of the tract cannot be
determined, no entry existing for it in the Stationers' Register.
According to one of Dury's biographers, but with no reference to source,
the pamphlet was printed by William Dugard "shortly after" the latter's
release from prison in the early spring of 1650.[9] The Calendar of
State Papers and the records of Bulstrode Whitelocke indicate that Dury
was not officially considered for the library post before late summer
and not appointed until 28 October.[10]

The contents of the letters themselves reveal Dury far ahead of his time
in his conception of the Complete Librarian, but later commentators have
generally not understood that the administrative reforms he advocated
were inseparable from his idea of the sacramental nature of the
librarian's office--and so have tended to dismiss the second letter
because it "merely repeats the ideas of the first with less practical
suggestion and in a more declamatory style."[11] Such a comment
illustrates how far we are from Dury's (and the age's) purposes and
hopes, and it shows a great misunderstanding of the religious and moral
context within which, for Dury, all human activity took place. As
Professor Popkin has shown, Dury considered libraries fundamental to the
preparation for the millennium: they housed the texts indispensable to
the spread of learning, which in turn was prerequisite to religious
unity and peace on earth and ultimately to the millennium itself; for
with enough of the right books, the Christian world could convert the
Jews, that final step which was to herald the reign of Christ on earth.
When, in the second letter, Dury refers to the "stewardship" of the
librarian he is speaking literally, not metaphorically.

But if libraries were to serve their purpose in the grand scheme--that
is, to make texts easily available--extensive