The Traits of Torrey

Torrey as a Man, Evangelist and Teacher, by Herbert Lockyer

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!

Yes, and in an age cursed with superficiality, it is well to remember that Dr. Torrey was the enemy of anything mean or cheap. He was never a showman. A commanding dignity, born of prolonged meditation upon the transcendent attributes of God enabled him to commend the Gospel.

What contrasts and opposites are suggested by John’s phrase ‘‘a man sent by God.” A man! God! Humanity and Infinity. Yet both met and ever harmonized in Dr. R. A. Torrey.

Particularizing, we can say that Dr. Torrey was:

1. A Man of Undaunted Faith.

Once young Torrey emerged from his night of doubt he had no hesitancy about trusting God implicitly for all his needs. While in Minneapolis, he determined to trust God, believing that the One he had come to know through a close study of the Scriptures, was well able to care for him and his work. Thus, like George Muller, that Apostle of Faith, whose work in Bristol is known the world over, R. A. Torrey, the Mission Superintendent, took all requirements to the Lord. Faith, of course, received many a severe testing but temporal and spiritual needs were all met.

And faith in God’s ability to care for His own dominated Dr. Torrey’s life. In all the important decisions he had to make, faith developed for him a healthy, spiritual ambition. And it was his utter dependence upon his unfailing Lord, fortressed, as his faith was, with a clean, yielded life, that enabled him to inspire faith in others. He could preach about faith, seeing that he practiced it. In his counsel to converts, he ever sought to impress upon them the necessity of thrusting themselves and all their cares wholly upon the Lord.

2. A Man of Unceasing Intercession.

Perhaps one of the most enlightening books dealing with the believer’s prayer life is the volume by Dr. Torrey on “How to Pray.” But he not only preached and wrote about “Prayer.” It was the atmosphere of his own life, and saturated as his mind was with the truth of God’s

Word, his prayers were ever Biblical in expression.

In the world-wide ministry this spiritual giant was called upon to exercise, he had need of frequent access to the Throne. And no matter how pressing his work, seasons of communion were never neglected. Prayer to him was more important than work.

And his prayers were always practical and direct. He knew the difference between saying prayers and praying in the Spirit. A favorite theme of his was, “The Prayer Life of our Lord.” Doubtless it was from his Master that he learned the necessity of spending many a day in prayer and fasting. And his knowledge of how to “pray through” accounts for his powerful ministry in different parts of the world.

3. A Man of Deep Convictions.

After his triumph over doubt, while a student at Yale and in Germany, Dr. Torrey never swerved from his faith in the infallibility of the Word of God. Intellectual and spiritual battles successfully fought brought him to a divine dogmatism regarding the Truth. And it was this unshaken confidence of his that helped to make him a rich blessing to so many of his day who were swayed by the “faiths” and “isms” of that time.

We sometimes say that nothing convicts like conviction. Well, Dr. Torrey’s convictions were certainly contagious as hundreds can still testify. One is constantly meeting with those who were brought out of their doubt into the clear sunlight of faith through the positive utterances of R. A. Torrey. He was not of the number who doubt their beliefs and believe their doubts. May God raise up more men with like convictions!

TORREY, THE EVANGELIST

While Dr. R. A. Torrey will go down to posterity as a Christian-educator, yet the fact remains that he was essentially an evangelist, and his methods of evangelism were ideal. Records prove that he made full proof of his ministry as an evangelist.

Robert Harkness reminds us that Dr. Torrey was “regarded by some as being unsuited for a specific evangelistic ministry.” Yet it cannot be denied that he was raised up for a great work. That he was called of God is evidenced not only in his messages, but in the abundant blessing attendant upon his ministry. He was not suddenly thrust into evangelistic work. His advent was prepared and his spiritual power was a matter of gradual development. His success as an evangelist, therefore, was not due to any mere chance, but rather the result of years of preparation and experience.

It will be worth our while to examine the underlying causes of his success as a soul-winner: causes, be it known that must ever be evident if one would do the work of an evangelist.

1. Torrey experienced the Grace of God with a deep heart experience of regeneration. Dr. Torrey knew what the Lord was able to do for others. The foundation of his stirring evangelism was his own personal salvation. A preacher, merely religious, can never function as a soul-winner. When Jesus has found us, then, and only then, can we tell others the story.

And in true apostolic fashion, once saved, Dr. Torrey sought to win those of his own immediate circle for Christ. In his message on ‘‘Soul-winning,” he often told of the way in which he led his own brother to the Saviour after years of pleading. And what joy was his as his own dear children accepted Christ.

2. Torrey shared Christ’s passion for souls.

Living near to the heart of his Lord, Dr. Torrey manifested his Master’s concern over lost men and women. In Christ’s stead, he was ever beseeching the unsaved to be reconciled to God. Although somewhat cold, austere, emotionless, R. A. Torrey was yet impelled by Heaven’s love for the lost.

And like his Lord, this divinely equipped evangelist believed in personal dealing. While he had power to sway masses, he loved the individual. He did not content himself with the preaching of those masterly evangelistic sermons of his in great campaigns. He was ever alert, snatching every opportunity of witnessing for his Lord. Mr. Robert Harkness tells of a visit to Australia and of a rough crossing they had when most of the party had to remain in their staterooms. A stormy sea caused them to be deeply concerned about their safety. Dr. Torrey, however, could be found on deck dealing with the Captain of the ship about his soul. Evidently self-righteous, the Captain came to realize that he was a lost sinner and ere the voyage was over, the seafaring man accepted the Saviour.

3. Torrey relied upon the work of the Spirit. Eminently gifted, Dr. Torrey knew how perilous it was to depend upon his natural talents, even upon his unique knowledge of the Scriptures. Of course, he believed that the Holy Spirit ever rides triumphantly in His own chariot and therefore his messages were saturated with the Bible. He knew, however, that even the letter can kill and that it is the Spirit alone who can give life.

As a true soul-winner he knew how to trust the Holy Spirit to produce conviction. Torrey believed that if he preached the Gospel faithfully and fully that the Holy Spirit would see to the results. He never tried to coax people into the Kingdom. False incentive, superficial appeals, or mere sensationalism were not in his line of things as an evangelist.

With the Spirit-anointed heralds of the Early Church, Dr. Torrey respected the Lordship of the Holy Spirit with the result that sinners were regenerated and mere religious professors brought into a living experience and lukewarm believers were transformed into ardent witnesses for Christ.

4. Torrey preached a Saving Message. An evangelist implies an evangel, and Dr. Torrey had a full Gospel to proclaim. And his was a Gospel he never apologized for. Knowing the Christ of the Gospel, this mighty soul-winner kept his ministry Christo-centric. He first brought Christ to men, then men to Christ. As with John Wesley, Charles Finney, Dwight L. Moody, Christ was the focal point of R. A. Torrey’s preaching.

Realizing that the heart of man was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, this teacher-evangelist bent all his energies in a two fold direction, namely, the utter depravity of the human heart, and a Crucified Christ as the only hope of sinners.

One of Dr. Torrey’s favorite passages was John 1:12. And relationship with God, only through Christ, was a constant theme of his, while the lines of his favorite hymn indicated his personal devotion to the Lord he dearly loved:

“Oh, could I speak the matchless worth, Oh, could I sound the glories forth, Which in my Saviour shine! I’d soar and touch the heavenly strings, And vie with Gabriel while he sings In notes almost divine.”

And in his evangelistic sermons he covered all the fundamental truths of Holy Writ. A striking text and half a dozen sob stories never satisfied this passionate evangelist who knew how to teach, teach, mark you, transgressors their ways. Believing that the whole Bible was the inspired Word of God, with masterly clarity and conciseness he discoursed upon all the aspects of the divine character, trusting the Spirit to produce conviction as he preached.

5. Torrey declared the Eternal Destiny of Souls. With the lost condition of men ever before him, Dr. Torrey was frank in his rebuttal of sin — brutally frank, some thought. Few men have been able to expose sin in all its terribleness as did R. A. Torrey. A friend of mine who listened to Dr. Torrey preach on “Prepare to meet thy God,” told me that such a piercing message made one tremble, yet in the delivery of the message the preacher seemed to be somewhat cold, unemotional. At times it would seem as if he were too hard or brusque. Such however, was not his real nature. In his inmost heart, the perilous condition of souls ever constrained him to warn sinners in the plainest of language.

Believing that souls dying without Christ are lost forevermore, he never trimmed his message. He gathered constant incentive from the solemn exhortation of James 5:20. And no one can read Torrey’s sermons containing his answers to problems of a perplexed, seeking soul without realizing that he knew how to apply his Biblical bait. Whether it was the difficulties of a sincere seeker, or the excuses of one whose problems were moral rather than mental, or the hackneyed arguments of the infidel, Dr. Torrey knew how to apply the very Scripture needed. He had power, as few others of his time, to bear the truth of salvation to a lost and dying world. Years of preparation and experience contributed to his success as an evangelist. He was ever a sworn foe of a mere professional evangelism. He hated surface work. He never condescended to tricks to secure results.

Other conspicuous traits marking him out as an Evangelist of high order can be briefly mentioned:

He carried the evident marks of Separation.

He cultivated holy intimacy with Heaven.

He was saved from ulterior motives.

He labored in the light of Eternity.

TORREY, THE TEACHER

Dr. R. A. Torrey will ever remain one of the world’s outstanding Bible teachers. Endowed with a brilliant lawyer-like mind, combined as it was with an undying passion for truth, he was an eminent teacher. Ever precise and calculative, he knew how to divide the Word of God rightly.

Emotional decisions were not his. Hard reasoning and stern logic formed his approach to the Scriptures. While a student he faced a period of doubt when it seemed as if faith would be shipwrecked by the rationalistic theology of Germany. A praying mother, however, sensing something of her boy’s perils, laid hold on God for her son who was in the way of being ruined for the ministry he was preparing for. In after years, Dr. Torrey was forever attributing his victory over doubts to the prayers of his saintly mother.

When the crisis came, and faith triumphed, young Torrey found a new Bible and a more wonderful Christ. From that time on, he never had a doubt regarding the veracity of Scripture. Through the years he gave unwavering loyalty to the great verities of the Book and was widely used to lead a multitude of doubters into the certainty of faith.

1. Torrey was Simple. Dr. Torrey practiced the art of simplicity. His forceful messages were clothed in language people could understand. Having a mind saturated with the simple language of the Bible, he knew how to express his statements in a simple style.

2. Torrey was Dignified. This master teacher likewise scorned anything that was light, flippant or undignified in the presentation of the Truth. He was ever a stranger to irreverence. Like John Bunyan’s “very grave person,” R. A. Torrey bore his great commission in his look.

3. Torrey was Systematic. Believing God to be the God of order and not of confusion, Dr. Torrey also held that his declarations of God’s Word should be orderly and systematic. Like Dr. Dinsdale Young of London, Dr. Torrey was fond of the three-decker sermon. His famous propositions, too, in What the Bible Teaches, reveal him as a master of division and analysis. He knew the force of logic and utilized it. —

4. Torrey was a Disciplinarian. Those who studied under him both in Chicago and Los Angeles knew him to be strict. Having a mind and a body well under control and the hours of his day carefully mapped out, he could enforce discipline when it came to the training of students.

Idleness he loathed. Like many another famous preacher, Dr. Torrey commenced his ministry in a small sphere, laboring and studying unceasingly and disciplining himself for future and greater tasks.

5. Torrey was Direct. As a teacher, Dr. Torrey was definite. He knew what he had to say and he could say it in uncompromising terms. His volume, What the Bible Teaches, perhaps one of the finest and most comprehensive compendiums of orthodox theology we have, reveals the clarity with which he could express his views. As Robert Harkness puts it, “Simplicity marked his teaching — conviction qualified his utterance — blessing accompanied his effort.”

6. Torrey advocated the value of memorizing. We have several good books on the memorizing of Scripture, many of which owe their inception, more or less, to Dr. Torrey’s labors in this direction. His own cultivated memory was remarkable, adding greatly to his effectiveness as he expounded the Scriptures. He affirmed, and rightly so, that a memory if rightly trained was ever to be trusted.

7. Torrey had a Full Mind. While essentially a man of one Book, Dr. Torrey read widely. He was ever abreast of current literature. Everything, however, he read was closely scrutinized and only passed on to others as it conformed to the structure of the spiritual truth he firmly believed. He would never attack a dangerous “ism” until he had endeavored to read all that was ever printed about it. Take, for example, his booklet on ‘Seventh-day Adventism.”

8. Torrey was a Builder. While it is perfectly true to say that Bible Institute work in America owes its existence to D. L. Moody, it is likewise true to assert that Bible Institutes owe their development to Dr. Torrey. Throwing himself heartily into the work which Mr. Moody commenced in Chicago, Dr. Torrey came to regard the function of a Bible Institute as an avenue of preparation for soul-winning service either at home or abroad. Essential subjects only, therefore, were handled.

The curriculum of the Chicago Institute, which is largely the basis of Bible Institutes the land over, was conceived chiefly by Dr. Torrey. And some of the ablest Bible teachers around the world owe their inspiration to the studies this renowned teacher made possible.

Happily, much of Dr. Torrey’s work is in print, and any Christian worker having a “Torrey Library” is well equipped. To assimilate his masterly works thoroughly is to have ample material for many a sermon. To study How to Work for Christ is to discover how successful soul-winners are made. To read prayerfully How to Pray results in a quickened and dynamic prayer-life. To ponder How to Promote and Conduct a Successful Revival is to stir one’s heart to be wholly dedicated to the Lord for the accomplishment of Christ’s redemptive purpose.