Dr. John A. Gray in popular lectures

              DR. JOHN A. GRAY
IN   POPULAR   LECTURES
JOHN   A.   GRAY
DR. JOHN A. GRAY has for ten years been steadily forging his way to the front as a popular lecturer, until today he easily ranks among the foremost lecturers of the lyceum. A man of great natural gifts, of ripe scholarship, and with deep convictions, the pulpit first and afterwards the platform claimed him for their own.
"The country is prolific of great lecturers, humorists, and 'tale bearers/ but how few of these are more than mere entertainers? Dr. Gray is a messenger with a message, timely, up-to-date and human, using each art and gift with consummate skill, and blending the whole as a painter blends his colors, to portray to his audience his inner vision.
"Dr. Gray believes in men. That in every man there is another man striving to break through the clods and show himself, who if given the right of way will 'make real his dreams' and make strong his life. This is the burthen of his message and messages, charged and surcharged with the true gospel of men.
"Robust in imagination, fired with natural passion and more than merely tinged with dramatic instinct, enriched with gems of poetry and epigrams from the wisest writers, bubbling like a spring into humor and sparkling like jewels in the sun, his lectures find their way into the heart, and haunt the mind like a strain of music.
"Both the press and well known men have paid their tribute. The New York Times wrote a column and a half editorial about him in 1907, in which it referred to him as the most up-to-date man in the ministry. The New York American, in 1908, in a two-column article, entirely eulogistic of him, spoke of him as the 'best beloved and most cordially hated man in the state; beloved by his friends, and hated by the promoters of vice and crime.' The Brooklyn Eagle, in 1908, compared him as a preacher with the best preachers of Brooklyn, and spoke of him as 'a close second to Dr. Hillis in his sermons.'
"Dr. Gray is not a humorist, but he believes in the gospel of laughter; that it is as necessary to laugh as to bathe, but that one must practice neither to excess. He will tell you the best stories you have ever heard, and you will laugh as you seldom do, and you will laugh for several days afterwards at their remembrance, and you will leave the hall to be larger, stronger and better than you ever were before."
LECTURE     SUBJECTS
Savonarola                     The Master and the Masterpiece
A God in Ruins                      The Voice and the Vision
The Man of the Hour                        
OUT OF WORK: The Strange Experiences of a Stranger in a Strange Land
THE   LECTURE S
For Lecture Courses, Commencements, Chautauquas
A   God   in   Ruins
Great writers have referred to man as a God in ruins. But is he? Yet great buildings have been erected out of the ruins of other buildings, and sometimes the rusty nail holds the timber as securely as the one new from the master's hand. Some of the foremost men of their generation who were great because they accomplished great things, were looked upon as "Gods in Ruins." This lecture is an appeal for more faith in men and women, and is suitable for lecture courses, college commencements or Chautauquas.
Savonarola
The Torch Bearer of the Middle Ages, is the story of this great reformer and his age. The days of the Medici read like a romance and "the city of Florence is like a fairy tale painted in marble.'' It was an age of great painters and sculptors, but of the most flagrant forms of vice and evil. Savonarola arose like a new star and blazed like a comet, and though his light went out like an extinguished torch, yet the reform he wrought remained. This lecture has been called the greatest Temperance Lecture on the American platform.
The   Voice   and the   Vision
The Secret of All Success. Here history is made to open its pages that the men of the past may speak to the men of the present, and the lessons of success be learned. An ideal commencement lecture.
The   Man   of the  Hour
Is the study of the man of the hour of history and a discussion of the man of the hour of today.    It is an entertainment lecture, and is highly popular.
Out of  Work
The Strange Experiences of a Stranger in a Strange Land
Is the story of Dr. Gray's experience among the homeless men of New York City during the severest part of a winter, where he went to study them with a view to helping them. Here he lived among them, slept with them, ate with them, and without a cent worked and was one of them. This lecture has been given over four hundred times in thirteen states, and nearly a third   of the dates were return calls for the same lecture.
PERSONAL   AND   PRESS    COMMENTS
Springfield Republican
The third number on the course and was by far the best of all. Dr. Gray thinks and reasons and makes you see things as he does.
New Canaan, Conn.
And last of all came Dr. Gray. We talk of him yet, and I shall remember him as long as I live and afterward, for I am better for having heard him.
Chester, Vt.
The lecture was brilliant, educational, ideal, with just enough humor to give it flavor. It was long, but all could have listened longer.
South Ryegate, Vt.
All were pleased with Dr. Gray, and many who did not attend wish they had.
Concord, Vt.
Dr. Gray's lecture took here very well indeed. He held the audience about two hours and all could have heard him longer.
Middletown, Conn., Penny Press
If you want to know why men fail in life; how to succeed and the elements of success; if you want to hear the most fascinating story you ever heard told by a man who knows how to tell it; then don't fail to hear Dr. Gray.
PERSONAL,   AND   PRESS   COMMENTS
Rev. F. L. Strickland, Ph. D. Pastor M. E. Church, Bay Shore, N. Y. Dr. Gray's lecture was listened to with deep and increasing attention to the end.    As a speaker, the lecturer is magnetic and forceful, while the lecture is both strong and brilliant.
W. F. Langdon, Secy. Y. M. C. A.
Jersey City, N. J. The lecture is intensely interesting, instructive and practical.    There is much of value in   this lecture to Association leaders, to whom we gladly recommend it.
Morrisville, vt.
Very satisfactory.—Committee.
Farmington, N. H., News
We never had a more highly entertained and delighted audience than that of last Saturday evening when listening to Dr. John Gray in his lecture "A God in Ruins." Dr. Gray is a very rapid speaker and held the close attention of his audience. For two and one-half hours he poured forth a stream of good advice, facts, history, pathos, wit, humor, poetry and oratory into their eager ears. The searchlight of the 20th century was turned upon patriotism and the social problem by one who has had practical experience. Dr. Gray would receive a cordial welcome here again.
News and Citizen, Morrisville, Vt.
Dr. Gray held the interest of his audience, was at times eloquent and all the time interesting and inspiring. The management of the course is to be congratulated upon securing so meritorious an attraction.
Chronicle, Marion, Ind.
Dr. John A. Gray was the lecturer and did something unusual for a lecturer, in that he came up to the mark set by the introductory speech.
Orient. N. Y. Dr. Gray is like Conwell and Hillis.
Drew Theological Seminary Madison, N. J. He  plays   upon   every   mood   and  upon   every temperament.
W. C. P. Rhoades, D. D. Pastor Marcy Avenue Baptist Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. I was deeply interested in your lecture.    I hope everyone will hear it.
Robert M. Green, D. D. Pastor Summer Avenue Baptist Church, Brooklyn, N. Y-Dr. Gray is an orator of real ability.
Morning Star, Muncie, Ind.
The church was well filled last night to hear Dr. Gray. His lecture was pronounced the best of the course.
Donald D. MacLaurin, D. D. Pastor Greene Avenue Baptist Church, Brooklyn, N. Y Herein I desire to express to you my deep appreciation  of  your  lecture "A God in  Ruins."    I advise everyone to hear it.
T. V. Parker, M. A. Mar. Brooklyn, N. Y., Lecture Course Incorporation His lecture "A God in Ruins," is brilliant and pleasing and ought to be heard by everyone. From the first word to the last, he held that large audience for nearly two hours, broken only by spontaneous applause.
News, Fairmount, Ind.
One of the most interesting lectures ever heard in this city. Dr. Gray for an hour and a half held the audience almost spell-bound.
New Haven, Conn., Young Men
His lecture was treated in a scholarly manner and told in a way to convince.
Rev. E. P. Armstrong Pastor Congregational Church, Bay Shore, N. Y. It was fascinating as any novel, both interesting and instructive. The lecturer evidenced a keen insight into human nature, a hand-to-hand contact with the man and his problems, and with a most kindly sense of brotherliness to the other man.
Suffolk Times, Greenport, N. Y.
For an hour and a half his audience lived in another world, and when he finished it seemed as if we had come back to earth with a shock.
Rev. Wm. M. Gillies
Pastor M. E. Church, Southhold, N. Y. The  lecture by John   A.   Gray   is   an  unusual and unique product,  presented with   a pleasing eloquence by a man of culture.
Rev. J. W. Maynard
Pastor M. E. Church, Patchogue, N. Y. Dr. Gray is a very pleasing speaker, instructive, suggestive and stimulating.
E. W. Packard Secy. Southbridge, Mass., Y. M. C A. The   lecturer made good, and we would be glad to see him again.