KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary recently won the right to house the Charles H. Spurgeon Collection, a library featuring the works of notable Christian writers and personal essays that belonged to the legendary 19th-century preacher himself. The collection, which the Kansas City, Mo.-based seminary bought for $400,000 from William Jewell College in nearby Liberty, Mo., includes 5,103 volumes about literature, theology, travel, biography, science, hymnody, history and humor.
"The Spurgeon library is a jewel for research as well as a monument to one of the Baptist and Christian world’s more effective proclaimers of the truth of Christ. Spurgeon was a giant for the cause of the gospel," Midwestern President Philip Roberts said.
Known for his extraordinary preaching ability, Charles Haddon Spurgeon was the most prominent English Baptist pastor of the 19th century. A Calvinist and a prolific author and orator, he remains a highly influential figure among all Baptists but especially those of the Reformed theological tradition. He preached his first sermon in 1851 at the age of 17. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon became the pastor of New Park Street Chapel in Southwark, London — England’s largest Baptist congregation.
Under Spurgeon’s leadership, the church continued to grow rapidly. It soon built a new sanctuary that accommodated nearly 5,000 worshipers and changed its name to the Metropolitan Tabernacle. By the time of his death in 1892, he had preached almost 3,600 sermons and published 49 volumes of commentaries, anecdotes and devotions.
William Jewell College housed Spurgeon’s private library for more than a century. The college bought it in 1905 in London for 500 British pounds.
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