While working on his Ph.D. in London in the early 2010s, church historian Christian George had no idea he was about to stumble upon a gold mine of academic and spiritual material, let alone that it would all end up at a Baptist seminary in Kansas City.
It was a cold January day, more than 160 years earlier, when the 16-year-old Charles Haddon Spurgeon began preparing to write his first sermon for the congregation at St. Andrews Baptist Church in Cambridge, England. The year was 1851. In preparation, the young Spurgeon began to write his sermon outline on the pages of a small marble-colored notebook.
Throughout his early ministry, Spurgeon eventually filled up nine of these books. Within their pages, he wrote extensively on the Bible, theology and other notes that helped contribute to his preaching. Spurgeon intended to eventually publish these notes, but he died before he could ever begin the project. It wasn’t until George discovered the manuscripts in the early 2010s that someone would attempt to revive this idea.
Geoff Chang, assistant professor of church history and historical theology and curator of the Spurgeon Library at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, noted how it took over 10 years for the entirety of Spurgeon’s journals to finally reach publication. George, who was the inaugural curator, completed the first three volumes. The fourth was completed by Midwestern Seminary Provost Jason Duesing. Volumes five and six were completed by Chang himself, and the final volume, finished in September of last year, was a collaborative effort between Duesing, Chang, and Ph.D. student Philip Ort.
All seven volumes were titled “The Lost Sermons of C.H. Spurgeon” and were published by the B&H Academic division of Lifeway Christian Resources.