1885 C. H. SPURGEON. An Original Spurgeon Pulpit-Used Sermon Outline on New Covenant in Hebrews 8.10

A very scarce piece of Spurgeonalia. When Spurgeon first began preaching, he wrote his sermons out in a nearly complete manuscript. By the 1860's, he had moved to more full notes than manuscript. By the 1870's he was down to a single or double-sided sheet or notecard. 

In light of his heavy demands, he found it more important to invest in preparing the preacher than that which was to be preached. So he read voraciously, studied extensively, and prayed. By his own account, this process was forced on him because of the demands of his preaching schedule rather than by choice. Spurgeon often preached 5 times per week or more. It was simply impossible to prepare full MSs for each event.

The original, pulpit-used sermon notes of Spurgeon are among the most desirable pieces of Spurgeonalia extant. We have handled a handful over the last 30 years. During the same time, we have probably handled close to 100 letters, and thousands of sermon revision pages, which do contain some of his own notes. But complete, "this is what he preached from" sermons are very rare.

The present, a double-sided sermon note, thus perfect for framing, is his pulpit notes to be used for an important text and one of Spurgeon's select passages for demonstrating the superiority of Covenant with Christ to the Old Testament law, Hebrews 8:10:

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people . . . 

His first recorded use of this pairing was in a sermon preaching at Newington, quite early in his ministry, c.1865. It was published in 1912 as The Wondrous Covenant. He then preached on it again and it was published in God's Law in Man's Heart. 

In the present outline, apparently for an unpublished event, Spurgeon demonstrates the mechanisms of Covenant in the Old Testament as being Solemn Law-Giving, Present Blessing, and Promise / Threat. These all "End in Failure." 

He then moves to the blessing of an in-heart Covenant by Christ and the Spirit. A robustly theological outline on the meaning of the blessing of an in-heart Covenant, the means of the blessing, and how it has been accomplished by grace. The sermon feels very much connected to Philip Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, and earlier puritan works on the inward workings of genuine Christianity. 

Preached Sabbath evening at the MTP, June 28, 1885, but apparently unpublished in this form.  The hymns selected by Spurgeon as usual.