Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-11-19
TORREYSTARTSWORK
Big Auditorium row led BE ore Hour for
Opening sorvioes ArriveL
MANY UNABLE TO stN AN ENTRANCE
Evangelist Abe to lake Himself Heard All
Cvsr Vast Structure
FIRST NIGHTS R SUITS ENCOURAGING
Twelve Converts is onSidsrsd Most from
ising for Future,
u.cT AIIoIrurr eTt,p m m Tur hrBTlle
NY UNABLE TO s4S An ENTRANCE
RsT NIGHTS R SUITS ENCOURAGING
VAST AUDIENCE sTaR 0 TO THE DEPTHS
Contrary to Usual Practice in suck
Meetings, Dr. ToFrey Commences
on Time and Closes
Early.


twelve converts were the first fruit Of the
present great mission movement In Omaha
organized by more than sixty churches ana
led by Or. r. \. Torrey, the Evangelist
They confessed Christ last night at the
Auditorium in the sight OF 1000 people who
had eagerly crowded the building.
One hour and q half OF song, sermon, ex-
hortation and prayer and the fret meeting
Of the Torrey mission was over: twelve per-
sons had started a new manner OF life.
thousands had been solemiy impressed, and
the ministers and church people present
grew radianty hopeful for the results OF
the next four weeks.
Every seat in the Auditoriun-rnsin floor
and gallery-was occupied. and hundreds
stood in the rear Of the room and in the
aisles. Long before O'Clock, which was the
hour set for Dr. Torrey to speak. the build
ing was so full that people coming could
not enter and they turned away In streams.
song service was set for 1880 but the
eager crowds came 50 early that this began
at 7;15. Even at this hour the hugo Audi
torium was more than two-thirds full
Six hundred voices sang In the choir. Two
hundred and Atty singers who volunteered
were turned away because there was no
room for them in tho choir loft.
Fights for Another Cause.
At the front OF the stage were DIT. ToTrey
and his assistants, W. s. Jacoby ana
Charles Butler. Mr.. Jacoby Is DR. Torrey's
assistant at the Chicago Avenue church,
Chicago Before he was CONVEX ted he was
proud to call himself prize fighter, and
he Is known to many people Of Omaha for
1t was here he lived and fought some of his
battles of the ring. Mr., Butler came from
Macon, Ga, TO lead the choir for DR.. Tor
rey.
The pastors OF all the churches taking
part in the movement were on the stage
with the speaker.
. DR.. Torrey Is magnetic man. He has
voice rich with feeling. endowed with power
to run on human heartstrings the whole
gamut of the. emotions. The fear, the hope,
the pathos, the ex,lltation II expresses are
paIpablel realities 30 'lse vast room ,aea 3
sinks into the souls OF those too far away
to read the expression OF his features Its
every intonation sets men thinking and
feeling.
shortly after O'Clock. the preliminary
song service over, DR.. Torrey began TO
preach. The one word of his text was
God" His discourse was logically divided
into three parts, the first to prove there Is
God. the second TO emphasize the ildi-
vidual human beings inhnitesma insig-
niicance in the shadow Of the universe and
the third to show the individuals need OF
God
Everything in nature proves the exist
ence of an intelligent maker said DR.. Tor
rey Look at this watch Of mine. What
a wonderfully nice piece of mechanism and
what marvellous result OF brain and skill.
You would not dare to say that by the
dance of atoms through countless aeons
these molecules were joggled together into
a watch. Who said that would be called
fool Yet nothing man has made is COM
parable with the human eye. Can II be that
the eye has come by chance from the dance
Of the atoms through the aeonse
God the BeginuiRs.
But. DR.. Torrey. someone will say.
you have forgotten the evolutionary hypo-
thesis; all living things have developed
from some prlmordial protoplasm.' don't
believe it; l did once, but gave It up
abandoned that theory not for theological. =
but for scientific reasons The hypothesis
has never been proven; # must always ro-
main a hypothesis. A tranEmutatlon OF
species never has been observed and never
will be. because II it should take place Il
would take so long.
But even II the theory be true, who
brought into being that primordial proto-
plasm? why, ~ would be a greater thing
to have a world develop from such proto-
plasm than to make world outright Evo-
luton or not, Is not God at the beginning?
History proves the existence Of God "a
every way, but In one gay In particular
and that is in the story OF Jesus Of Naza-
! reth, as found in the four gospels. The
? only fact that can account for the resur-
rection Of the dead by Jesus Is the fact
: Of a personal God.
men Of keen intellects have tried with
out success TO eliminate tho supernatural
element from the life Of Jesus, and today
, the story is accepted as reasonably ac-
curate history, and back Of II is God.
Tonight I know there is a God because
I know Him. ! can conceive that some
subtle idealistic philosopher might come TO
nae TO prove 10 me tiiSre is no objective
Y God and l might not be able 20 disprove
D his arguments or show the weak points
% in Il. I would stili know there Is a God.
I risked everything 10 prove Il and won.
s you think God lis under obligation TO
D explain the mystery OF evil? What are
you that you say so? You are one out OF
G i.5OO.OOOO0O people on this earth: l., 10000
e of your eaTths would rattle around inside
= the sun; there are about 100000 solar sys-
tens like this OF yours. and there may be
an inhnite number Of universes. You are
, / divided By 1.5O0.Oo0O0O divided by 10000
divided by 100000 divided by inhnity God
is multiplied by l.5OO.Oo500o multiplied by
10000 multiplied by l,OooOoO multiplied by
tnhnity
III ever man has reached the height OF
assininity 1t is-Then he attempts to say
what God ought TO do
i Are You Ready 20 Meet GOdt
a Here the speaker described the glory OF
70 God in the words Of the prophet Isaiah.
q remarking that ono burst OF the glory OF
j. God in the Auditorium would cause all
C the people 10 fan down on their faces
r Then ne changed to exhortation, asking his
s hearers II they were ready TO meet God
4 should the summons come az once. The
10 high. the low, the rich. the poor. the power
10 ful and the obscure must an meet Him.
p said Dr. Torrey, and before the year is
r over 100 OF those IN the building must pass
10 TO the beyond.
The only gTOund on which you can msst