Traits and Tracts of Torrey

A word of explanation is necessary regarding the presentation of some of Dr. R. A. Torrey’s Bible tracts. Quite recently, we had a spring cleaning at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and in some of the cupboards we came across hundreds of plates, which were used by the printing press the Institute possessed in Dr. Torrey’s time.

Finding a few of Dr. Torrey’s tracts, which the Institute issued during this famous teacher’s association with it, we thought that it would be a good thing to reproduce them for another generation of Bible lovers.

The difference in style is accounted for by the fact that we have used the original plates, making possible thereby a cheaper book.

The added appreciation of Dr. Torrey’s life and work by Dr. Herbert Lockyer will, I feel sure, prepare the reader for the Tracts of Dr. Torrey.

May God continue to bless the work of one of America’s greatest Bible teachers! ‘He being dead yet speaketh.”

Louis T. Talbot.

TORREY, THE MAN

That movements ever revolve around men is the evident testimony of Scripture. ““A man appeared, sent by God, whose name was John.” A force implies a figure — a program, a personality. The Dispensations of Scripture are associated with conspicuous individuals. God commenced the human family with Adam. Noah headed another covenant. In Abraham we have the fountain head of the Jewish race. John the Baptist, the man sent by God, was the figure head in a crusade of repentance and preparation for the coming Messiah. In the Man Christ Jesus, we have the Federal Head of the Church.

And men sent by God explain the expansion of the cause of Christ. Paul, for example, is conspicuous as the promoter of evangelism and a founder of churches. For the deliverance of Christianity from the shackles of Papal sovereignty, a man appeared, sent by God, whose name was Martin Luther. God shook this German monk and in turn the monk shook the world.

England, J. R. Green in his History of the English People, tells us, was saved from a bloody revolution through the monumental labours of John Wesley. Scotland threw off the yoke of a dead formalism as the result of John Knox’s dynamic preaching. Two continents experienced a remarkable spiritual quickening as D. L. Moody, the man of one Book, journeyed over them, preaching the glorious gospel of redeeming love. And, without doubt, Reuben Archer Torrey, the divinely ordained successor of D. L. Moody, was a man called of God to exercise a much needed ministry in a time ripe for instruction in the deep things of the Word.

It is a distinct loss that no official biography of Dr. R. A. Torrey exists. His dear widow, still happily with us, writes me that her gifted husband did not desire any account of his labours recorded. The only sketch of his life extant is the revealing volume, Reuben Archer Torrey: The Man And His Message, by his friend Robert Harkness, who was so closely identified with Dr. Torrey in his great evangelistic campaigns. And it is upon this valuable biography we must depend for much of our material.

For a generation that knew not R. A. Torrey, the man who appeared, sent by God to expound the Scriptures, the following facts can be restated.

He was born of Reuben Slayton Torrey and Elizabeth Torrey on January 28, 1856, in the city of Hoboken, N. J.

As a student he had a distinguished career, having taken degrees at Yale University. Post graduate study in Germany further helped to equip this intellectual giant for his life’s work.

His marriage to Clara B. Smith of Garrettsville, Ohio, in 1879 brought into his life one who was to be his devoted companion for about fifty years. Mrs. Torrey is still actively interested in the work of the Lord.

Of the five children born to Dr. and Mrs. Torrey, two are living and are in positions in which they perpetuate their father’s influence and ministry; namely, Reuben A. Torrey, the well-known missionary to China, and Edith Clare Torrey, teacher of English Bible in Wheaton College, with whom Mrs. Torrey makes her home.

Ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1878, Dr. Torrey, thereafter, spent several years superintending the City Mission in Minneapolis. From 1889 to 1908 he was associated in the work of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. Endowed, as few men of his day were, with a keen insight into the character of men, Mr. Moody knew that in R. A. Torrey he had the man who by training and testing was well fitted to develop the God-given idea of a training center for consecrated young people.

For twelve years he acted as Pastor of the old Moody Church. Extensive world tours during 1902-1905, and evangelistic campaigns all over America from 1906 to 1912 were followed by visits to Europe and, in 1919 and 1921, to the Orient.

Then for twelve years, 1912-1924, Dr. Torrey acted as Dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and also for the best part of this period as Pastor of the historic Church of the Open Door.

Relinquishing his work in California, Dr.

Torrey next engaged in evangelistic work all over the States.

Then came two years as Special Lecturer at the Moody Bible Institute. Dr. Torrey died at Asheville, N. C., October 26, 1928, and his body rests on the hilltop of the Montrose he dearly loved.

Such, then, are a few brief facts concerning a man sent by God whose memory and work are ever worth recalling.

Those who knew this valiant defender of the Faith pay tribute to his uprightness and sincerity. Although he was only a man, yet he ever sought to be a true man, sent and used by God. He was clear and transparent. For example, he lived above the praises and plaudits of men. Bricks and bouquets often came his way and he took them all without apparent concern. He believed that he was not responsible for the way men reacted to his message. His responsibility, he believed, was to preach a God-given message, and then leave the Holy Spirit to produce results.

We are also told that Dr. Torrey was ever thorough and exact. He never did things by halves. And what he gave he expected. With his hours and life fully disciplined, he was stern when it came to discipline among students. Laziness he abhorred.

Again, R. A. Torrey was not a man of moods. Often eminent men mar their influence because they are fitful, spasmodic and erratic. Torrey, however, had unusual balance and poise, that played a large part in making him the success he was. His manner radiated confidence.

Endowed with an iron will, Dr. Torrey was firm and unbending in his attitude to sin and in his defence of the truth. Some, there were, who thought him somewhat severe. But as he could not tolerate sham, pretense or mere make-believe, Dr. Torrey thundered out against all hypocrisy.

This man of God was likewise blessedly saved from mercenary motives. While ample reward came to him, greed for money never limited his influence or beclouded his vision.

Punctuality was another conspicuous trait of his. His watch kept accurate time. Jeremy Taylor reminds us that one evidence of a holy life is the strict economy of time. Well, Dr. Torrey knew how to redeem his hours!

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