of the Jews were all antecedent steps to the commencement in the
foreseeable future of the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ
on earth. They saw the struggles of the Thirty Years' War and the
religious conflict in England as part of their development of
providential history.

In terms of their common vision, each of them strove during the decade
1630-40 to help the world prepare for the great events to come. Comenius
started redoing the educational system through his textbooks and set
forth plans for attaining universal knowledge. Hartlib moved from
Germany to England, where he became a central organizing figure in both
the nascent scientific world and the theological world. He was in
contact with a wide variety of intellectuals and brought their ideas
together. (For instance, he apprised Dury of the millenarian theory of
Joseph Mede, which was to be so influential in the Puritan Revolution,
and he spread Comenius's ideas in England.) Dury devoted himself
principally to trying to unite all of the Protestant churches in Europe
and to this end began his peregrinations from Sweden and Germany to
Holland, Switzerland, France, and England. These travels were to
continue throughout the rest of his life, as he tried to negotiate an
agreement on the essentials of Christianity in preparation for Jesus'
return.

In 1640, as the Puritan Revolution began, Hartlib, Comenius, and Dury
saw the developments in England as the opportunity to put their
scientific-religious plans into effect. They joined together in London
in 1641 and, with strong support, offered proposals to prepare England
for the millennium. They proposed setting up a new university in London
for developing universal knowledge. In spite of the strong backing they
had from leaders of the State and Church, Parliament was unable to fund