Views Of The Famous American Missioner About The Great Religious Awakening In England And Wales.

By George T. B. Davis.

Two and a half years ago two men came to England to conduct revival missions. Their arrival created comparatively small comment, for these were little known outside a limited circle. To-day their names—Torrey and Alexander—are household words throughout the length and breadth of Great Britain, and they are universally recognised as the successors of Moody and Sankey. How the commencement of their first mission in England, to the close of the London campaign, the remarkable number of between seventy and eighty thousand persons have stood up in their meetings to publicly confess their acceptance of Christ.

It is peculiarly fitting that Moody’s mantle should have fallen Dr. Torrey, for the latter is pastor of the church in Chicago and superintendent of the Bible Institute founded by the late evangelist. In many of his methods Dr. Torrey follows the example of his predecessor, but in others he has pushed out on independent lines. Dr. Torrey does not call for inquirers at the close of his revival sermons, but calls for immediate decision, which is followed within a few moments by a public confession. With all his heart Dr. Torrey believes in what may he termed “sudden” conversion. Each night he pleads earnestly with every unsaved man, woman, or child in his audience to go out of the building fully saved and converted.

Dr. Torrey is not eloquent if one means by eloquence the gift of rhetoric and exquisite word painting, but he has a strong, rugged eloquence of a most powerful and convincing kind. It is simple and direct—being modelled on the style of the Bible—and drives the truth home to men’s hearts in a manner they can neither escape nor forget.

But Dr. Torrey’s chief characteristic is his absolute faith in God. For years he refused to accept a salary as a minister, but lived entirely by faith. His life has been one long series of remarkable answers to prayer. I believe that the present world-wide revival is largely the outcome of the prayers of Dr. Torrey and his consecrated associates in Chicago during three long years when there was not a sign of a great awakening on the spiritual horizon.

Dr. Torrey’s revival tour of the world was in direct and immediate answer to prayer. After he and his associates had prayed for a revival for three years, one night Dr. Torrey was led to pray that he himself might go round the world preaching the Gospel, and within a week thereafter two men came up to him at the close of a prayer meeting and gave him an invitation in the name of the united churches of Melbourne, Australia, to conduct a Simultaneous Mission in that city. In words of beautiful humility Dr. Torrey has told how God in His infinite goodness answered his prayer and sent him out upon what has been termed “the mightiest evangelistic movement the world has ever seen.”

Dr. Torrey said:- God has given me a great many things in answer to prayer a very great many things. God has given me things in answer to prayer which, if my friends had known I was asking for them before I got them, they would have thought I was foolish to dare to ask such great things. I will tell you why—there is one great reason. God taught me years ago what a poor, vile, wretched, hell-deserving sinner I was.-—that I had no worthiness in God’s sight; and He taught me along with that the infinite worthiness of Jesus and He has given me such confidence in the power of Jesus’ Name that I have dared to go to God and ask Him great things. If anybody had asked four years ago—any time in 1901—if they thought Dr. Torrey would be used around the world preaching the Gospel to thousands, and seeing thousands converted everywhere —if you had asked any man that knew me, even my best friends, if they believed it, you would probably not have found one. But I went alone and, believing in the power of God’s Holy Name, I asked Him to do it. There is power in the Name of Jesus. There is mighty power in the Name of Jesus! And God loves to testify to the Deity of Jesus by answering the prayers that go up in His Name.”

Already nearly ninety thousand persons have accepted Christ in the Torrey-Alexander meetings since their world-tour was begun. and ere the evangelists leave England the number will doubtless considerably exceed one hundred thousand souls—truly a marvellous answer to prayer.

Being commissioned by the Editor of The Sunday Strand to obtain Dr. Torrey’s views on his two and a half years’ work in England, and upon the present religious awakening, I called upon the famous missioner one morning recently, and round him in the beautiful home of a loyal supporter in one of the London suburbs. As I entered the room, Dr. Torrey was busy dictating letters to his secretary, which, by the way, is quite a formidable task, for he usually receives scores of letters in a single day. In the same business like way in which he conducts his revival services Dr. Torrey acceded to my request for an interview, and rapidly answered my various questions.

I first asked the missioner whether he was fully satisfied with the results of the London campaign. In reply he said:-

“I am never satisfied. I am always looking for something better. But the results have been such as to cheer our hearts; they have been, I think, beyond what anyone expected. To think of the Albert Hall being filled to overflowing every night for two months, and oftentimes filled to overflowing in tile afternoons, with people who came to hear the old-fashioned Gospel is enough to cheer anyone’s heart. It is cheering to think, too, of the many thousands who definitely professed to accept Christ, whose names are on record, and many of whom are now in the Churches. While this may not satisfy one who wants the very best, it does rejoice us beyond measure.”

When asked whether his work in England had exceeded his expectations Dr. Torrey said:-

“Yes my two and a half years’ work in England has exceeded my expectations, but still I am looking for greater things. As to the number of converts there have been I cannot tell. Their have doubtless been thousands of whom no record has been made. I have been told that there were sixty thousand recorded up to the time of coming to London, and that there were about seven thousand registered at the Albert Hall, including the young people.”

“What have been, in your judgment, Dr. Torrey, the chief characteristics and the chief results of your mission in England?

“The chief characteristics of the mission,” he replied, “ have been dependence upon God; prayer to God by thousands of people all over the world; large expectations from God; a belief in the entire Bible as a divine revelation; a persistent preaching of the old doctrines—the only doctrines that have ever proved effective in winning men to Christ and the emphasis laid upon the personality and work of the Holy Spirit. The chief results of the mission have been the re-establishment of faith upon the part of men whose faith had largely vanished; the bringing to faith of men who never had it a widespread confidence in the Bible as the Word of God; the stirring up of Christians to new effort for the salvation of the lost; the leading of thousands of Christians out into a more thorough consecration to God; and the salvation of many thousands of men, women, and children.”

Just here it will doubtless be interesting to the readers of The Sunday Strand to know what sort of preaching by Dr. Torrey has produced such remarkable results. Dr. Torrey has condensed the creed he preaches into a brief statement, which is as follows:—

“I can sum up my creed in a very few words. I believe in the Word or God. I believe in the Bible as God’s absolutely reliable revelation of Himself to me, and I believe in the power of the Bible. I know the old Book is not worn out. I know the old Book is just what this old perishing world needs to-day just as much as ever it needed it, and when men stick by the Book and distrust their own opinions and every- body else’s opinions, and just approach God’s truth as He has revealed it in His Word, it meets the need of the hour.

“I believe in the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ. I believe that their is power in that Blood to atone for the sins of the vilest sinner, and that in a moment, as soon as he accepts Christ, that shed Blood will blot out every sin and make his record as white in God’s sight as that of the purest saint in glory.

I believe in prayer. I know God answers prayer; it is no theory with me. I know God answers prayer just as well as I know I exist. I know God does, definitely, in answer to prayer, the very thing that you ask Him to do. I know it; it is no guesswork. I am not able to explain the philosophy of it. What I’m concerned with is not philosophy, but facts.

“I know that when a company of God’s people—not necessarily everybody in the whole community who professes to be a Christian—but when even a small company of God’s people get really right with God, and begin to cry to God for an outpouring of His Spirit in mighty power, I know God hears.”

I next asked Dr. Torrey what classes of people were reached before he came to London. In reply he said:-

“All classes were reached. Members of the nobility were reached in some of our provincial towns; very many men prominent in business life; men known in political life; a very large number of middle-class people, forming the backbone of society; and many hundreds of the poorest, the most depraved and vicious and a great many who call themselves agnostics or atheists have professed to accept Christ in the different towns we have visited.”

When asked whether members of the fashionable circles and the aristocracy had been reached to any extent during the London campaign, Dr. Torrey replied:-

‘‘Yes, indeed: in a matter like this one does not wish to mention names, but we know of quite a number of people who are members of the fashionable circles and the aristocracy who have been won to Christ, in some cases entire families.”

It will be remembered that before coming to England Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander took part in a great Simultaneous Mission in Melbourne, Australia, during which, in the course of a few weeks, eight thousand people publicly accepted Christ. Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander went throughout all Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania, holding revival meetings in the largest cities, which were unparalleled in enthusiasm and results in the history of those countries. When asked for his opinion of his work in England compared with that in Australia, Dr. Torrey said:-

I think the work in England exceeds the work in Australia in almost every respect, and the tide is constantly rising.”

Many different versions of the origin of the present great revival have been given of late. I desired the opinion of the great missioner for the readers of The Sunday Strand, for, as above stated, I believe that he was, under God, the foremost factor in bringing about the spiritual awakening. In answer to my request for his opinion of how the movement started, Dr. Torrey said:-

“It is impossible to say what was the origin of the present revival. There were a number of men in Australia who prayed for twelve years for a big revival in that country. Several of these were dead before we reached Australia. One died on his knees in the first week of the revival in Melbourne, and another one came to Melbourne to see with his own eyes what he said God had given him to see in a vision in one of the prayer meetings. There was also for several years a prayer-meeting of some three or four hundred people at nine o’clock, one night in every week, to pray for a world-wide revival. The meeting was held in our Bible institute in Chicago. From the beginning we were confident that a world-wide revival would come, and we prayed on and on. We saw but little sign of a coming revival, but we still believed, and prayed on and on. People would ask how long we intended to keep praying, and we would reply, ‘Until the revival comes.’ It has come.

“As the outcome of this prayer-meeting in Chicago, afterwards taken up in Australia, and reported from Australia to the Keswick Convention, circles of prayer were formed all over England—indeed, all over the world —to pray for a world-wide revival. These circles were formed before we came to England, and I doubt not they have had an immense amount to do, not only with the work in which we have been directly concerned, but with the great revival that broke out in Wales immediately following our mission in Cardiff. I believe there are now somee forty thousand people in these prayer circles.”

I next asked Dr. Torrey whether he believed the revival would spread throughout the entire world, and in reply he said:-

“I think that all countries will be reached by the revival before it passes away. It is already breaking out in places in Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, India, China, and Japan, to say nothing of the wave of blessing that seems to he sweeping over America at the present time, and to say nothing of what has already been seen in Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania.”

When asked to compare the present awakening with those which have occurred in previous epochs of history, Dr. Torrey said:-

“It is too early to say what will be its place in history compared with past revivals, but I think present indications seem to show that it will be far wider spread than any previous one, and already, if it is to be measured by the number of converts in some lands, it has produced effects beyond many revivals of the past of which we have heard a great deal.”

“What seem to be the outstanding features of the revival?” I next asked Dr. Torrey.

“The outstanding features seem to be the emphasis laid upon prayer (which is the case in every real revival) the emphasis laid upon the reality, personality, and power of the Holy Spirit the emphasis laid upon the credibility and power of the Bible; and upon the necessity of an out - and - out consecration to God and absolute separation from the world.”

“What is your opinion of Evan Roberts?” I think that Evan Roberts was beyond question a man raised up of God, and a man through whom God has wrought wonderfully, and I am hoping and praying that God will use him more abundantly than ever.”

“Do you think it is possible for every community to have a revival, and, if so, how?” I then asked the famous missioner.

“I do believe that it is possible fur every community to have a revival,” said he. “I started out on the theory, when I began my ministry, that a revival condition was the true condition of the Church, that a Church ought to be in a perpetual state of revival. I went to work to see if this could not be realized, and it has been realized in the four churches of which I have been pastor. Since my first year in the ministry I have been in a constant revival in my own churches.

“As to how it is to be realized, first of all by a goodly number of Christians getting right with God secondly, by their giving themselves up to God to cry for a revival until it comes; thirdly, by their going out to he used personally in bringing others to Christ. A great deal, of course, depends upon the ministers, and one of the saddest things at the present time is to see how many ministers there are who are simply onlookers, sometimes sympathetic, sometimes critical, but not seeming to feel that they have any responsibility in the matter. I think there is a day of judgment coming for ministers who stand aloof at the present time and do not go alone with God and cry to Him until the blessing reaches their own churches. But where ministers will not do their duty, nor even feel their responsibility, still a revival may be had. There have been revivals in many communities during the past year where the ministers have been set aside and the people have simply gone ahead without them.

“There is not a church or chapel or mission on earth where you cannot have a revival, provided there is a little nucleus of faithful people who will hold on to God until it comes. The revival of 1857 in America started in answer to the prayers of three laymen, and spread over the whole nation. Four men prayed the great revival to Kells, and then to all the north of Ireland, in ’59. One was a farmer, one a blacksmith, one a school teacher, and the other a man in humble life. These four men held on to God week after week and, though at first there did not seem to be any result, the fire came at last, and Ireland, Scotland, and Wales were shaken by the power of God. One of these four men is still living in Scotland at an advanced age.”

It will be remembered that Dr. Torrey did not begin his world-wide revival campaign in America, but in Japan. When I asked him whether he would endeavour to completely girdle the globe by conducting crusades in the leading cities of America, from the Atlantic to the Golden Gate, he said:—

“I do not know that I shall complete my evangelistic tour by conducting revival meetings through out America, but I do expect to conduct a revival in America, beginning in January next. I doubt very much if this will complete my tour, however, for I expect to visit Japan and China again, and I have very urgent invitations to go to South Africa. I have likewise been invited to hold revival campaigns among the Universities of Germany and through the large cities of Germany, and also in Sweden.”

It may be mentioned that the invitation to Dr. Torrey to visit Sweden came directly from Prince Bernadotte, the son of King Oscar, who strongly urged the evangelist to begin a campaign in the capital of Sweden. Believing that the readers of The Sunday Strand would be interested in knowing the missioners plans for the future, my final question to Dr. Torrey was a direct query as to whether he intended to return to his church In Chicago at the conclusion of these various campaigns. In reply to my inquiry he said:-

“I have no plans for the future regarding returning to my church. If God calls me to return to the church I will do so to-morrow but I do not expect to return to it for any prolonged period for some few years to come.”

It is to be earnestly hoped that after Dr. Torrey has carried out his cherished plan of conducting missions in America, South Africa, and upon the Continent, he will return to England once more to awaken the Churches, and once again lead Christian workers in rescuing tens of thousands of the unsaved.

During July and August Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander will enjoy a two months’ vacation, the former with his family in Germany and the latter at his home in Birmingham. They expect to conclude their English campaign by holding brief missions of a month each at Sheffield, Plymouth, and Oxford in the autumn. It is fitting that their final work in England should he devoted to the salvation of the University men who will in the years to come play an important part in guiding the future destinies of the nation.