Torrey's New Topical Textbook

The New Topical Text Book was published by Fleming H. Revell in 1897 as "a Scripture text book for the use of ministers, teachers, and all Christian workers." It was a revised and enlarged edition of an older Topical Text Book, and what made it new was the name on the title page: R. A. Torrey (1856–1928), then superintendent of the Moody Bible Institute, revised the work and wrote for it an introduction on methods of Bible study. It has carried his name ever since.

A topical textbook is a plainer thing than a topical Bible. Each subject is broken into short statements, and each statement is followed by the verses that prove it. The result reads like a Bible study outline already prepared. The entry on faith begins:

Faith

• Is the substance of things hoped for. Heb 11:1
• Is the evidence of things not seen. Heb 11:1
• Commanded. Mt 11:22; 1Jo 3:23
• THE OBJECTS OF, ARE
  • God. Joh 14:1
  • Christ. Joh 6:29; Ac 20:21
  • Writings of Moses. Joh 5:46; Ac 24:14
  • Writings of the prophets. 2Ch 20:20; Ac 26:27
  • The gospel. Mr 1:15
  • Promises of God. Ro 4:21; Heb 11:13
• IN CHRIST IS
  • The gift of God. Ro 12:3; Eph 2:8; 6:23; Php 1:29
  • The work of God. Ac 11:21; 1Co 2:5
  • Precious. 2Pe 1:1

The entry goes on through what faith produces, what it brings, and the examples of it, in the same manner. There are 628 subjects, from Access to God to the tribe of Zebulun, with more than twenty thousand Scripture references between them. Doctrinal subjects are treated at length, but so are the everyday matters of Bible life: kings, servants, shepherds, agriculture, the journey through the wilderness.

Torrey's introduction, "Methods of Bible Study," is included as the first entry in the module, and it is worth reading on its own. His advice on how to read a verse is typical:

When you read a verse in the Bible ask yourself What does this verse mean? Then ask: What does it mean for me? When that is answered ask yourself again: Is that all it means? and don't leave it until you are quite sure that is all it means for the present. You may come back at some future time and find it means yet a great deal more.

In SwordSearcher every proof text is a link, so an outline can be read straight through with the passages open, and the entries are indexed by verse: the Verse Guide and Bible margin show which of Torrey's subjects cite the verse you are reading. For a fuller digest of the same subjects, turn to Nave's Topical Bible. Torrey's other work in the library includes The Fundamentals, which he edited, and five of his sermons in Great Preaching of the Faith.