Bray’s commitment to literacy, literature and libraries began with an interest in the colonies in 1694 when the Bishop of London (whose See included territories outside the British Isles) received a request from the Governor of Maryland (a champion of the church) for a Commissary (or bishop’s representative). The Bishop asked Bray to go whereupon he moved to London and became increasingly involved in Maryland and missionary work.
Twenty years previously, at the request of the Bishop of London, King Charles had granted a bounty of £20 to any minister who would go to the colonies, plus £1,200 to supply books for the churches there, and several had taken up the offer. Once Bray discovered that the requests were mainly from the poor uneducated clergy he recognised the need for a constant supply of books and the building of libraries. Hence his 'Proposals for Encouraging Learning and Religion in the Foreign Plantations'. Support came from the Bishop of London, who appealed to his fellow-bishops. Archbishop Tenison, pioneer founder of a public library in St Martin-in-the-Fields, needed no persuasion and an appeal, backed by a donation of £44 from Princess (later Queen) Anne, kick-started a period of intense activity from December 1695.
Every missionary to Maryland was to have a box of books, containing 52 volumes. Libraries were established and within two years Bray hatched a grandiose plan for libraries in America at four levels: one for every Province, one for each secondary city (which included Boston, New York and Philadelphia), one for each deanery and one for each priest.
Significantly, his choice of books reflected the breadth of his gospel. Despite his ‘pet hates’ of some contemporary philosophies, not to mention the threat to the church from the arrival of the scientific age, the demand for freedom of enquiry, rationalism and atheism, Bray’s gospel allowed plenty of room for flexibility. Missionaries must be equipped for ‘a very inquisitive age’ and alongside a solid, diverse collection of divinity, biblical commentaries, the Fathers, church history and some tracts, libraries must also have books on pretty well everything from theology to history, geography, travel, anatomy, Latin classics and Compleat Gardener, thereby establishing a firm foundation that was to be replicated a century by the Religious Tract Society and still in some ways the driving force behind Feed the Minds.
To counter the criticism that he was helping the church overseas rather than at home Bray countered with a twin plan to to support poor clergy by creating Lending Libraries in 400 deaneries in Britain. Pressure of work prevented him from implementing all his ideas but a group of his friends continued the work which enabled him to turn his attention to building more permanent structures to secure the future.
In association with SPCK Bray was also able to ensure future publishing, continuity and permanence, and from such humble but powerful beginnings much of SPCK’s subsequent development embraced not only Tools for the Clergy but also substantial book grants to Schools and the newly established Teacher Training Colleges.