14
January 1929
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
school, following closely the original lines, and yet with new courses designed to meet the changed conditions under which aggressive Christian work must be carried on, a position that it still maintains. One of Dr. Torrey’s innovations was the adoption of a definite statement of Christian Doctrines held by the Institute, which is signed every January by every member of the Board of Directors, the faculty, and heads of all departments, and from which there can be no deviation. His L ast Y ears In 1924 Dr. Torrey felt led to resign his position in the Institute, in order to give his remaining years to evangelistic work and to the writing of several more books that he had in mind. Leaving the coast in 1925, he has since made his home in Ashville, N. C., so centrally located as to be within easy reach of his children. Edith, the oldest daughter, is the much-loved teacher of the Bible in Wheaton College. Reuben Archer, called after his father, after serving in China under the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, is at present Secretary of the Southern District of the Board, with headquarters in St. Louis. Blanche, now Mrs. Herbert Wiggs, with her hus band and children, lives at Elberton, Ga. His W ide I nfluence We have sketched rapidly the outlines of this great life, and space forbids our attempting to give anything like a list of Dr. Torrey’s numerous writings, some of which have been translated into more than twenty-five languages, and all of which have been blessed to countless thousands of men and women over the whole world. As a teacher, Dr. Torrey impressed one with a sense of his mastery of his material. He seemed to know the Bible from cover to cover. He could always give chapter and verse for every statement he made. Where the Book was silent he preferred not to speculate. As a preacher he has been described as follows: “Dr. Torrey is a man of plain speech. His language is stripped; every word is used in its plainest, best-under
stood meaning—a spade is called a spade. Sin is no mere imperfection in human nature—it is high treason against the Almighty. “Dr. Torrey is a man of conviction. The Bible is to him the very Word of God—no less. “Dr. Torrey is a man of clear intellect. There is no vagueness about his creed. His views are clear-cut. “Dr. Torrey is a man of compassion. Though his addresses have ‘power to brand and burn his nothingness into man,’ the orbs that light his face are no cold ‘pitiless, passionless eyes.’ As his favorite texts of Scripture—lov ing promises of God, tender words of Christ, pitiful pleas of an apostle—come from his lips, those luminous eyes fill, and a look of eager yearning comes into his face. Dr. Torrey comes with a message, a mission of help.” A R emarkable T ribute The following phrases, culled from a letter written to a Liverpool newspaper by Dr. John Watson ( “Ian Mac Laren” ) during Dr. Torrey’s Mission there, are intensely interesting: “First of all, one must be impressed by the speaker’s personality. His bearing was that of a gentleman of Christ. “What struck me next was his intellectual sanity. From beginning to end of his address he was persuasive and reasonable. “But the most winning feature in his address was its graciousness. It was evangelical in the proper and final sense; it gave one an attractive and comforting idea of God.” And so the letter runs on, arid after speaking of “this felicitous address” concludes thus: “May I add that I have not the honor of knowing Dr. Torrey, and that his theological standpoint may not be exactly mine; but I left that meeting convinced that the preacher was a single- hearted lover of the Lord Jesus and a faithful servant of the Evangel. If these lines should come to Dr. Torrey’s notice it may encourage him to know that a fellow servant of the Master went back to his work with a warmer heart and a stronger faith.”
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