C H Spurgeon's personal copy of the Psalms has been discovered in a Baptist college library in Kansas.
Spurgeon was the greatest Baptist figure of the 19th century, a preacher, humanitarian and prolific author. The book was used for his commentary on the Psalms, 'The Treasury of David', and contains his own hand-written marginal notes.
It was discovered by Rev Brian Albert, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Lenexa, who serves as a research assistant at the Spurgeon Library of Midwestern Seminary. In recent months he has dedicated a day a week to combing through the library's books looking for notations, dates and other data. He found the psalter and told Christian George, curator of the Spurgeon Library and assistant professor of historical theology, who confirmed that the handwriting was Spurgeon's.
The psalter was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Albert matched the date of its publication (1864) with the writing of the 'Treasury of David' (1865-85).
"There were hundreds printed annually so it would be easy access for the public to purchase," Albert told Midwestern Seminary's Patrick Hudson. "This fact told me that the Spurgeon Bible was not an heirloom or family Bible, but was more 'usable'. The fact that this Bible was only on the Psalms also struck my curiosity as to the relationship with the Treasury of David."
He continued: "What struck me as significant was not only the fact of Spurgeon's notations, but the amount of them. I began to suspect that this was a "working" Bible.
Further analysis indicated links to other books in Spurgeon's 6,000-volume personal library, which Midwestern acquired in 2006. Albert concluded: "This Bible belonged to Spurgeon, was noted by Spurgeon (in part) from much of Spurgeon's personal books to help write the 20-year work 'Treasury of David'."
Midwestern's president Jason K Allen said: "One of the purposes for the existence of the Spurgeon Library at Midwestern Seminary is to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Church and the academy by preserving the personal library of Charles Haddon Spurgeon and fostering a deeper appreciation of his life, legacy, theology and preaching.
"It is, I believe, exhilarating and important to uncover such an artefact that Spurgeon personally used to create resources for fellow believers to study and better understand the book of Psalms.
"It is an evident blessing from God to allow for such a discovery, and we are grateful to Brian Albert for his dedication in combing, page-by-page, through Spurgeon's library. It is our hope, that as we delve further into the collection in the season ahead, we will discover many more such artifacts that provide better insight into the life and ministry of Charles Spurgeon."
The collection is currently being archived and analysed before being moved to The Charles Spurgeon Center for Biblical Preaching, due for completion in August.
