P. Marion Simms

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P. Marion Simms
MANAGEMENT

Mutual Lyceum Bureau
FRANK A. MORGAN - PRESIDENT
640 Orchestra Building - Chicago, Illinois



INTRODUCTORY
THE REV. P. MARION SIMMS, Ph. D., posseses in a remarkable degree the essential qualifications of a successful lecturer.  Each lecture has a purpose and contains a living message.  His stories and genial good humor make him popular with all classes.  He is a native Tennesseean; educated in Cumberland University, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1899, Bachelor of Divinity in 1902, and Doctor of Philosophy in 1907.  The latter was for work in Sociology and Political Economy.  He served his Alma Mater for four years as a member of the faculty.  For several years he has been on the lecture platform where he enjoys a well-earned and established reputation for high grade work.



LECTURES WITH A PURPOSE

THE CALF PATH
A FOREWORD

A hundred thousand men were led,
By one calf near three centuries dead.

A frank discussion of some modern and living religious conditions and problems.  Nothing sectarian.  The pulpit and press often discuss, What is the matter with the church?  Why do so many men turn a deaf ear to her call?  Why does Protestantism speak without authority?  What is the remedy?  This lecture is a masterly discussion of conditions and the remedy and a timely accounting of stock.  Its facts ring like fire bells.  It is optimistic and brim full of humor.



WHAT THEY SAY

Vinton (Ia.) Eagle
—Dr. Simms' lecture, The Calf Path, was pronounced the best ever delivered in Vinton.


Oelwein (Ia.) Register
—Dr. Simms gave a fine lecture Tuesday evening.  It was a stem winder.  His subject was The Calf Path.  For over an hour he held the closest attention of the audience.


Wagoner (Okla.) Daily Sayings
—The lecture delivered last night by Dr. P. Marion Simms entitles him to a place in the front rank of platform speakers of the country.  His subject was The Calf Path.  The large number of people who heard the lecture were universal in their praises, both for Dr. Simms and his lecture.  In fact, it is the talk of the town.



THE SON OF MAN
A FOREWORD

O Son of Man, grant us to see,
Thy full divine humanity.

Christ is the citadel of Christianity and the final fortress of the trusting soul.  In this age of skepticism and doubt many need something to reassure their faith in Him.  This lecture makes plain the impossibility of a classification of Jesus Christ with mere men.  And it does so without invoking the authority of inspiration or the aid of the supernatural.  The skeptic is met on his own grounds.



WHAT THEY SAY
Nashville, Tenn., Rev. Ira Landrith, D. D. LL. D., President Belmont College—Rev. P. Marion Simms is in all respects far above the level of ordinary men.

Lancaster, Ky., Prof. D. W. Bridges, Superintendent Graded Schools—I have heard some of the best orators of our country, and none of them has done more to stir up and strengthen my spiritual and intellectual life than Dr. Simms.

Lebanon, Tenn., Andrew B. Martin, LL. D., President Board Trustees Cumberland University—Worthy of the highest commendation at my hands.

Pertile Springs, Mo., Correspondent Cumberland Presbyterian—That was a notable lecture delivered by Rev. P. Marion Simms on Thursday last.





CHAUTAUQUA MORNING LECTURES
JESUS, BORN IN A MANGER, always poor, without schooling, friends or influence, left the carpenter's shop at thirty and in three years set to work influences that have changed the whole current of human history.  He must have been more than a man.  The object of this series is to show that fact.  While Dr. Simms believes in the inspiration of the Gospels, he proves the divinity of Jesus, using the Gospels as purely human documents written by fallible men, thereby making assurance doubly sure.  Each lecture is complete within itself and a series of any number desired, for one or two weeks, may be arranged.  Some subjects follow:



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?

His Peerless Personality.
His Inimitable Teaching.
His Colossal Claims.
His Perfect Humanity.
His Unique Kingdom.
His Inflexible Demands.
His Matchless Power.
Was He Invented?



TESTIMONY OF PERSONAL LETTERS
Vinton, Ia., E. F. Brown, Chairman Chautauqua Program Committee—I have no hesitation in saying that in my honest opinion it is a series of lectures that surpasses anything I have ever had the pleasure of hearing.

Vinton, Ia., A. M. M. Dornon, Manager Chautauqua—The subject is old, but the presentation is certainly new and up-to-date.  Instructive, but not prosy; fascinating, but not sensational.  As good as the best.



LECTURES WITH A PURPOSE

THE SONS OF EBONY

A FOREWORD
The negro furnishes us one of our greatest national problems and one on which the people are often misinformed.  Life-long residence and extensive travel in the south have given Dr. Simms ample opportunity to study the question at first hand and this lecture is the fruit of these years of observation and study.  It is unprejudiced.



WHAT THEY SAY
Des Moines, Ia., The Bystander, a negro paper—Dr. Simms is a southerner who knows the traits and habits of the negro as but few white men in the north do.  He is a friend, as he says, of the negro and he discussed this great question from a high, broad Christian point of view.

Council Bluffs, Ia., Rev. Geo. A. Ray, D. D.—Our people were greatly pleased with The Sons of Ebony.  The lecture is of thrilling interest.


Villisca (Ia.) Review
—He considers the work of Booker T. Washington as suggesting the sanest solution of the problem.

Osceola, Ia., Rev. O. M. Pennock—Dr. Simms' lecture deserves the highest praise.


Waterloo (Ia.) Daily Courier
—The address of the evening on The Sons of Ebony was instructive, interesting and very fine.

Storm Lake, Ia., Mrs. K. Buland, President Ladies' Aid, Presbyterian Church—We consider it the finest race problem lecture ever delivered in this part of the state.  It was a lecture full of facts not known to the people of the north.  It was brilliant, most instructive and full of fun.




FREAKS
Popular, inspirational, humorous.

McIntire, Ia., Prof. Marvin C. Gilbert—I can say that Dr. Simms' lecture on Freaks was very satisfactory.


Hamburg (Ia.) Republican
—He is a very forceful speaker, practical and scholarly.


COMMENCEMENT ADDRESSES

WISHBONES OR BACKBONES.

A LAME MULE'S TRACK.

Cedar Falls (Ia.) Daily Record
—The lecture of Rev. P. Marion Simms was a delightful production.  There was humor, pathos, anecdote and eloquence.  Interest in the lecture was intense from beginning to end.  It was a rare treat.


Garrison (Ia.) Independent
His method of illustration (Wishbones or Backbones) is novel and original and adds greatly to the force of his address.  Dr. Simms makes an impression that will stick.

Shellsburg, Ia., Rev. J. C. Patterson—The best lecture ever delivered in Shellsburg, was heard on all hands.  The people continue to talk about it.





SUNDAY SERMONS

The Resurrection of Jesus.
Does Death End All?
Creeds; Their Use and Abuse.
A Soft South Wind.  (Temperance.)
The Conversion of Saul of Tarsus.






A REAL LIVE WIRE
Dr Simms is a busy pastor and accepts only a limited number of platform engagements.  He is a real live wire.  He umpires no snoring matches where he goes.  In his church work he is a firm believer not only in prayer and perseverance, but also in printer's ink and postage.  He spends as much as two hundred and fifty dollars a year advertising his church in a most unique way.  His church pays the bills and increases his salary annually.  His printed matter has been reproduced in many of the leading religious and even secular papers of the country.  As a result he has frequent requests for samples of work from all parts of the United States and England.  The Five Cent Once-A-Weeker from Nubbinville is hot shot that was originally furnished as a four page folder to the membership of his church.  Say, but you ought to hear him.



THE FIVE CENT ONCE-A-WEEKER FROM NUBBINVILLE
IN Jimson Weed county, eighty-seven miles beyond Wiregrass, is the town of Nubbinville, a Flag Station on the Narrow Gauge to Grabville.  Having never read Theodore Roosevelt her people show no symptoms of committing Race Suicide.  Being unable to find ample accommodations on native soil, her sons are now in all parts of the country.  And they are unlike anything else on the globe.  Perhaps you would like to be able to know one when you meet him.

SO easily may a Nubbinvillite be recognized that no one need be in doubt for a moment.  He has Three distinguishing characteristics: He never goes to Church over Once on Sunday; he always gives a Nickel or Less to the Lord; and he spends much of his time in the Growlery, especially when extra gifts are asked.  He says all the church wants is Money.  He sometimes joins the Church, and when he does he is valuable—when you Count.  But it hurts him to Let Go—at church.  On all other occasions he is a Liberal Spender, handling the Long Green as if it came in Bales—but he never thaws out on Sunday.  No matter the urgency of the Call he never rises above his little Nickel.  Judging from expenditures in other directions he is Abundantly Able.  But you had as well attempt to get wool by shearing a Hydraulic Ram as to ask him for more than a Nickel for the Lord.  If he ever casts bread on the waters it is when the Tide is Coming In.

IN the First Presbyterian Church last Sunday a number of the Nubbinvillites worshipped.  One in particular we noticed.  He wore a Rose on the lapel of his coat and had in his vest pocket five William Penns bought at the Postoffice News Stand while waiting for the Mail to be distributed.  And when the basket passed he gave a Nickel to the Lord.  He had several Bills in his pocket and sundry Change.  But the usher paused several seconds while he Hunted Around for a coin Small Enough to give the Lord.  Finally finding one poor little Nickel he dropped it in the basket to Aid the Church of Jesus Christ in its Fight against the World, the Flesh and the Devil.

THERE by his side lay his Five Dollar stetson; his Five Dollar patent leathers were under the seat in front and the Nickel was in the basket—a whole Nickel.  On Saturday he poured a small Libation on the Altar of Friendship at Strong's Fountain and Forty-Five Cents was stamped on the Premium Ticket the boy presented him.  He peeled off a Bill as if it Annoyed him to see it lying around and handed it to the boy and gave him a Dime when he brought back the change.  A Nickel for the Lord and a Dime for the Waiter.  He belongs to the Acme Suit Club, from which he receives four fresh suits a week.  His hose were Embroidered with Red Silk and cost him Seventy-Five Cents.  He had his shoes polished on Saturday afternoon and Handed Out a Dime without a Murmur.  He had a shave and Cheerfully paid Ten Cents for it.  He took a box of Candies home to his Wife and paid Seventy-Five Cents for it and the box was tied up with a Dainty Bit of Ribbon.  He had in his pocket a Season Ticket for the Lyceum, where he always sits in the Dress Circle.  He also mailed Fifteen Comic Postals Sunday morning while waiting for the Mail.  Yes, and he also gave a Nickel to the Lord.

IN Wealth of Faith the Nubbinvillite walks alone.  For this one little Nickel he confidently expects the Church to provide a Well-Furnished building, good Sermons, attractive Music every Sunday and to Evangelize the World in the present generation.  He also expects the Lord to Prosper him in his business, Bless his home, Make his Bed in All his sickness and finally to give him a Brown Stone Front on Fifth Avenue in Heaven.  His daily prayer is: Lord, Increase our Faith.

? Who is this Lord to whom the Nubbinvillite gave a Nickel?  Why, that man Worships him as being the Infinite, Eternal, Immutable and All-Wise God who holds the Universe in the hollow of his hand; the Redeemer and Saviour of the whole World and the one who said, Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations.  Yes, and he dropped in a Nickel to Support that God's Church—the Church militant.  And what is the Church militant?  The Church militant is the Church that is to be the Church Triumphant of the Great God the Nubbinvillite gave the Nickel to.

And the man knew the Object for which the Church existed and the Commands of the Master.  He knew about the Needs of Missions and Education and Sunday School Work and Church Erection and Ministerial Relief and the Freedmen and Temperance and Colleges and the local Congregation and the Poor.  And knowing all these things he put his hand into his pocket and Fished Out one little Nickel and gave it to the Lord.  And the Lord being Gracious and Slow to Anger and Plenteous in Mercy did not Slay him on the spot for his Meanness, but continues to give him his daily bread.

But the Nickel was Ashamed, if the Nubbinvillite wasn't, for it immediately Hid itself beneath a Quarter that was given by a poor Woman that Washed for a Living.