John Durie - Martin Bucer Seminar

John Durie (1596–1680): Defragmenter of the ReformationJohn Durie (1596–1680):Defragmenter of the ReformationGeorge M. EllaPart One: Europe andBritain Working TogetherWho on earth is John Durie?Most computer users have experiencedhard disks full of jumbled, fragmentedfiles which block spaces causingmemory and retrieval problems. Whata relief it is to switch on a defragmenterand have everything made ship-shapeagain. The Reformation in mid-seventeenthcentury Britain had reached sucha fragmentation and a defragmenter wascalled for. The man for the job was certainlyJohn Durie who was possibly themost well-known man in Europe at thetime and one whom countless crownedheads, church leaders, politicians, generals,educators, social reformers andhumble men and women loved andrespected. If anybody, he was the oneto knit together again what denominationalism,legalism, rationalism, politicalstrife, opportunism and personalambition had rent asunder.“Who on earth is John Durie?” youmight well say; “Never heard of him!”.This common ignorance is one ofthe tragedies of our present confusedchurches. Britain has forgotten anotherof her greatest Christian heroes. Whereis the modern man of God today whois world-renowned as a great preacher,pastor, diplomat, educator, scientist, linguist,translator, man of letters, ambassador,library reformer, mediator andpolitician? Who today produces bestsellerson a monthly basis, writing inhalf a dozen different languages? In allthese fields John Durie has been called‘great’ or ‘the greatest’, yet he is forgottenby his mother country whom heserved so long and well. This is perhapsbecause it is beyond human imaginationthat such a man could have existed andhis ‘type’ today is not called for. Trevor-Roper, speaking of the great deeds ofDurie and his colleagues in his Crisisof the Seventeenth Century says ‘the needproduced the men’. Does it? We are insuch a ten-fold need today but whereare the men? Yet, Durie’s idea of a pan-European Reformed Church based ona reformation of church life and educationwas supported by the majorityof Reformers and Puritans from Elizabeth’sdays to post-Restitution times.Durie was supported by Charles Iand Oliver Cromwell, besides most ofthe crowned heads of Europe and theleaders of the various republics andSwiss cantons. Reformed Bishops andArchbishops Hall, Davenant, Morton,Reformiertes Forum 3