By Jason G. Duesing
In 1816, poet John Keats wrote a sonnet to describe the delight and awe he experienced when reading the works of Homer in English for the first time. While Keats knew Latin, he did not know Greek and, thus, had no access to Homer until a friend introduced him one night to a translation by the Elizabethan author, George Chapman.
Keats and his friend spent the evening reading Homer aloud and by morning, Keats had penned, “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” to capture the wonder he felt with what he had read.
Keats wrote, in part:
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken…
Rare is the work that causes the reader to feel like an astronomer who’s discovered a new planet, but that was Keats’ experience reading Homer.
Discovering a Solar System
As one who spends time in libraries and archives for reading and research, I, too, have had this experience from time to time. Of course, it goes without saying that reading the divine, living, and active Word of God (Heb 4:12) allows the believer in Christ, filled by the Holy Spirit, to experience this awe and illumination on a supernatural level. Yet, rarely have I experienced what Keats describes when reading a human author. When I have, though, it is life changing.
One place where I have had such a Keats-like experience is when pouring over the works of Charles Haddon Spurgeon as contained in the Heritage Collection, which until 2023 was located at the college Spurgeon founded in London. Working through cabinet after cabinet of Spurgeon’s correspondence and sermons, many of which remain unpublished and unstudied, one feels like he’s discovered not just a new planet, but an entire solar system.
While that experience has proved edifying, it is the prospect of what students can do with this solar system for the glory of God and the building up of Christ’s Church that delights. For, there might not be a better life and ministry to study while preparing for ministry than Charles Spurgeon.
The Heritage Collection
Now located at Midwestern Seminary, the Heritage Collection consists of thousands of books, manuscripts, letters, artifacts, newspaper cuttings, and more, related to the ministry of Spurgeon and the Pastors’ College that he founded.
Other than the Heritage Collection and the Spurgeon Library at Midwestern Seminary, there are three smaller, but still significant Spurgeon-related collections stored in the United Kingdom at the Angus Library at Oxford’s Regent’s Park College, The Metropolitan Tabernacle archives, and Spurgeon’s Children’s Charity.
Therefore, the transfer of the Heritage Collection to Midwestern brings the majority of Spurgeon materials into one location and has the culminating effect of uniting Spurgeon’s personal library with his papers and manuscripts for the first time since the library was sold to Missouri Baptists in 1905.
Following Spurgeon’s death in 1892, the Heritage Collection formed through the London college’s connection with Spurgeon and his family. J.A. Spurgeon, his brother, presided over the college from 1892-1896, and then Thomas Spurgeon, his son, presided from 1896-1917. In addition to serving as the repository for all of Charles Spurgeon’s papers and manuscripts, with the passing of Thomas, many of the papers and chronicles of the Spurgeon family were added to the Collection, enhancing the repository with numerous unique items now both by and about Spurgeon. As a brief introduction, here are some of those treasures found in the Heritage Collection:
The “Lost Sermons” Notebooks–These are the 10 original notebooks containing the nearly 400 sermons that Spurgeon preached in Waterbeach and the surrounding areas as a teenager. While these sermons have been published in seven volumes as The Lost Sermons of C.H. Spurgeon, they have not yet been analyzed, at large, by Spurgeon scholars.
“Anti-Christ and her Brood; Or Popery Unmasked”–This is the original essay that Spurgeon wrote about the Roman Catholic Church as a 15-year-old for an essay contest prior to his conversion, and it has never been published or researched.
Letters–There are over 500 original, handwritten letters. The majority are from Spurgeon, but there are also many letters to Spurgeon, and to and from his wife, Susannah, and others connected to Spurgeon. These letters cover all kinds of subjects, including pastoral ministry, church planting, personal life, and more.
Pulpit Notes–There are around 700 original, handwritten notes for sermons and lectures that Spurgeon brought with him into the pulpit or lecture hall.
Transcripts & Galley Proofs–The transcripts are recordings of Spurgeon’s sermons and lectures written down by stenographers and edited by Spurgeon for publication. The galley proofs are printed versions of the transcripts, containing a second round of edits by Spurgeon. There are over 10,000 pages of transcripts of Spurgeon’s sermons and approximately 900 pages of galley proofs. Along with the pulpit notes, these manuscripts can provide new insights into Spurgeon’s preaching, homiletics, and his editorial approach.
Newspaper Cuttings–There are approximately 100 binders and large scrapbooks filled with chronologically arranged newspaper and magazine cuttings, related to Spurgeon. Each binder or scrapbook contains dozens, or even hundreds, of cuttings. These binders and scrapbooks represent a monumental amount of largely untapped research into Spurgeon’s life and ministry.
Artifacts–There are many interesting artifacts in the collection, including Spurgeon’s shirt collar, handkerchiefs, canes, and Bibles, including a sermon pamphlet, “Accidents, Not Punishments,” that was carried throughout Africa by David Livingstone and contains his written commendation, “Very good. – D. L.”
Pastors’ College Minute Books–There are three sets of minute books that will provide new insights into Spurgeon’s ministry with the Pastors’ College. As part of their theological training, students regularly held discussions with their professors on theological and contemporary topics. Some topics they discussed, as recorded in the minutes, include capital punishment, the nature of faith, church and state, and evolution.
Original Manuscripts and Other Significant Items–There several items of historical and research value including Spurgeon’s personal Bibles and pulpit Bible, his last letter from Mentone, his “Short Story” written at age 11, original manuscripts of: The Cheque Book of Faith, The Treasury of David, Lectures to My Students, first edition volumes of his works, and the original pulpit from Colchester Chapel where Spurgeon was converted (1850).
For the Church
Thanks to generous supporters of Midwestern Seminary, now when students and scholars enter The Spurgeon Library and access the Heritage Collection, the opportunity will present itself for them to have their own Keats-like experience as astronomers discovering new planets.
But these discoveries will not end at mere edification, for reading Spurgeon redirects the eye and heart beyond oneself.
Susannah Spurgeon said that her husband’s sermons that are a part of the Heritage Collection “are valuable, not only because of their intrinsic merits, but also as the first products of the mind and heart which afterwards yielded so many discourses to the Church and the world, for the glory of God and the good of men” (Autobiography, 1:213).
Indeed, like Keats, on first looking into Spurgeon’s Collection, I have found joy and awe in the work of Spurgeon, the man, but also in the work of Spurgeon’s God to whom Spurgeon’s sermons point on every page.
With the Heritage Collection now housed at Midwestern Seminary, many students can experience this solar system through a first look for themselves, for Christ, and for the Church.
Jason Duesing | Provost, Professor of Historical Theology
