1961 Ernest Wakefield — E.A. Johnston

Toronto Canada marks the 31st 1961 gospel meeting.

I suppose that every one of us here has a time in our lives when we did not know that a man and woman, never yet known as their personal saviour, the night is lost. Gee, how solemn it is to come into this room.

And all my friends, we believe that as the gospel goes forth, the enemy of your precious soul will do all he can to stop you from hearing, not the preacher's voice, but the very voice of God speaking to your precious, never dying soul.

The Question of Humanity's Eternal Condition

I want to ask this question before we turn to God's word. I want to ask you, my friends, every man in this room, every woman in this room, every boy and girl in this room, I want to ask you this solemn question.

If you had died last night, oh friends, how solemn this is. If you had died last night, I ask you, where would you be right now? Now, my friends, that's a solemn, solemn question. But I wonder tonight that you've sat in that chair and you've answered that question.

Where would you be now if you had passed away during the last 24 hours? If you had passed away without Christ, you'd be in eternal darkness, away from God forever, in your sin. Now I'd like to bring before you tonight five questions in the word of God.

“Where Art Thou?” and the Reality of Sin

First question, I believe that God ever asked man. Very, very solemn question. Genesis and verse 9. The Lord God called unto and said unto him, Where, my friends, that's the first question I ask man. That's a very solemn question.

Three words. Where art thou? It tells us that man is lost. It tells us that man is a fallen creature, that man is away from God. And God asked that question. It's not because he didn't know where man was.

It's not because God couldn't see Adam. But I believe that God would have this question sent from this platform tonight. Where art thou? Where are you hiding? For of the unsaved man and woman is hiding away from God.

And God asked this solemn question. Where art thou? Here was a man who had only sinned once. His name was Adam. And he had against his record one sin. And that one sin he committed. Sent him away. Hiding behind the bridge of the garden to hide away from God.

He only had a record of one sin. And that one sin drove him away from the presence of God. Now, my friends, I want to ask you tonight, if you're unsaved here, without Christ, without hope, without God in this world, I want to ask you about your record.

Will you stand up tonight and come up to the front here and say, I have a record like Adam's? I only have one sin against my name. Do you know, my friends, and I know about my own self, that our sins are many.

Our sins are many. You know that our life history is one that is black. And you know, my friends, you know, soundly know, that if you knew you were going to leave this world tonight, you would be in deep exercise about your soul's welfare.

For after death, God says, God says, after death, the judgment, you have to stand before God. And tonight we'd like to, at the very start of this meeting, we'd like to bring you into the immediate presence of God himself.

Not into the presence of Christians, but into the presence of a sin-hating God. A God who loves a sinner, but a God who takes sins with all his power, with all his might. And God asks that question, where art thou?

And Adam was hiding behind the tree in the garden, and he was dressed in his pig-leaf apron. And he stands in the presence of God, and he says, I was naked, naked. My friends tonight, where are you hiding?

Are you hiding behind your good work? Are you hiding behind your religion? Are you hiding behind some fatigue you're doing in your life? You're not to stand in God's presence and say, I'm naked, I'm naked.

For outside of the Lord Jesus, outside of his death and resurrection, outside of his precious blood, there is no salvation. For in his Son, I am great. So tonight, in this first question, God would have it right into your conscience, into your very heart, into the very depths of your soul, my friends.

Where art thou? Where are you hiding tonight, my friends? Where are you hiding? Are you safe or lost? Heaven-bound or hell-bound? Safe or lost? There's no middle ground, there's no neutrality. Either tonight you're on the way to eternal glory, or you're on your way to eternal darkness without brightness.

The purest contradiction. There is no record in the Word of God of the first man. Safe or lost? He that believeth in the Son of God hath everlasting life, first class. But he that believeth not shall not be lifeless.

For the wrath of God, too fragile. You, my friends, tonight are in one of those two classes. I ask you, have you yet made that wonderful discovery that you're a sinner? Have you yet found that the Word of God concerning you is true?

That all have sinned and come short of the glorious God? There is no difference? God keeps the whole world. He says there's no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glorious God. I ask you tonight, have you discovered yet?

Oh, I come to, my friends, the wonderful discovery. To find out you're a sinner. So you'll never get to heaven, will you? The first step to heaven. To find out you're a lost, guilty, hell-deserving sinner.

That's the very first step into the glory of God. Until you find out that, my friends, you'll never get saved. Then you'll never come to Christ. So you'll find you're a poor, lost, guilty sinner. So the next question is in the fourth chapter.

“What Hast Thou Done?” and Human Guilt

And here we find, again, a question that God is asking. I think we're in the chapter four. And it says of McCain, where is Abel, thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, what hast thou done?

Now, my friends, in chapter three, we find that man is lost. In chapter four, we find that man is guilty. How so? It is lost and guilty. God says to McCain, what hast thou done? He thought not. No, my friends, I speak rapidly.

Did not God know that McCain's hands were stained with the blood of Abel? He knew that exactly. He knew it. He saw with his holy eyes McCain as he killed his brother. And yet he asked this question. Why did he ask it?

To point out to McCain he was guilty. And to point out to you tonight, my friends, that you are guilty. What hast thou done? The other night we were visiting the lady. And she sat in her living room with her husband, one of them was smoking cigarettes.

She said, well, I believe in all. I have my own beliefs. And I believe that you do the best you can and you live a good life and try to do what's right. What else can God expect from a person? And the speaker said this to her.

The one who was speaking to her said this. My dear lady, you realize tonight that you have a heart just like Judas and Tarrant. You have a heart just like Adolf Hitler. You have a heart just like Eichmann that murdered five million Jews.

And your heart is no better than that man's. Not a bit better. Not one bit better. For you and I are sinners, my friends. I want to turn. I don't ask you to turn, but I'd like to read to you a few scriptures, some God's words that show God's thoughts about your heart and my heart.

In the fifth of Genesis, Genesis 6, verse 5, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. 14th Psalm and the first verse.

Anybody in this room tonight who's a stranger, I want you to solemnly realize that these are the words of the only living God, the living God who really made it open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Psalm 14, verse 1. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They're corrupt. They have done a vulnerable work. There is none that do us good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon these children of man as a seed.

If there were any that did understand, it would be God. They are all gone aside. They're all together become filthy. There is none that do us good. No, not one. Not one, he said. That's what God said.

Not one. Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 9. 17, verse 9. Again, God is speaking. Listen to what he says. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately or incurably wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart.

Another, friends, the vision of the Old Testament, the writings of Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets, all testify from God himself that man's heart is bad through and through. Your heart and my heart, there's no difference, God said.

No difference. A man walks to a scaffold, a rope is tied around his neck, and he's trapped into eternity. His heart is just like my heart. My friends, the man that nailed the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross of Calvary.

A man who's been in the very face of the Son of God has the same kind of a heart as you have in trouble tonight, and as I have, the very same kind of heart. No better, no worse. The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurably wicked.

That's what God said. Now turn to the 7th of March, and we find the New Testament in the Gospel. The Lord Jesus is speaking in the 7th chapter of Mark, and he says in the 21st verse, For from within, out of the heart of man.

Notice, my friends, this is your heart tonight. In the city of Toronto, this is your heart. And my heart, for from within, out of the heart of man, perceives evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murders.

Is it possible, is it possible, my dear man, that inside your heart and my heart there's murder? So says the Son of God. So says the Lord of life and glory. He reads into your heart. I, the Lord, search the heart.

He searches your heart. He searches my heart. And he says inside your heart, inside my heart, I read murder, fornication, adultery. And he goes on to tell us in his wickedness and so on. The very Christ of God searches your heart, my friends.

He searches into your very soul. In the 3rd chapter of Romans, where he starts at the very head, the very crown of the head, goes down through the body to the very feet. And he ends it up by saying, There's none but God, not one, for all of sin.

And comes short of the glory of God. My friends, I solemnly ask you tonight to put aside your reasoning, your doubts, your suspicions, your false teachings, your religions. I say put them all aside and believe what God says.

You're a sinner. You're a sinner, my friends, hopelessly lost, hopelessly lost, unless God himself comes in and saves your precious soul. There is no salvation outside of Christ. God alone can save the soul.

The New Birth and the Conviction of Sin

And my friends, it's not the preaching, it's not the voice of the preacher, it's not the message from the preacher. It's only God who can give life. Only God can give life. If you go into the cemetery tonight, you can stand beside a grave and call to some dead person, Come on over to the grave and live.

They'd laugh at us. Death would mock us. But oh, let the Son of God go into the cemetery. Let the voice of the Son of God penetrate that grave, and that dead person will come out of their grave with life, because only Christ can give life.

And I pray tonight, my dear friends and everybody in this room, will hear not my voice only, but the very voice of God speaking to your precious never-dying soul. You may stand tonight in the presence of God.

You may be brought into the very immediate presence of a holy, bright, holy God. Your sin may trouble you tonight. You may have no rest and no sleep and no peace. You may sit there, my friends, quaking in your chair, and shivering and shaking in your chair as your sins bother you.

My friends, do your sins bother you? A man where I work said to me, I can truthfully say to you, My sins never bothered me. And I knew that man was an ungodly man. Ungodly. Sad to say, in this country in which we live tonight, there are tens of thousands just like him.

Their sins never bother them. Into their beds they go at night. They never pray. They curse God all day. They never pray. Into their beds they go. Off to sleep they go. And if at night their hearts stop beating, they find themselves in a Christless eternity.

Are you here tonight? You children of Christian parents who dare to come into the gospel room and walk out with a smile on your face without fright. You who have to say, your father has to say, I hope my boy stays.

I trust my girl is a Christian, but they've never confessed Christ. Oh, how solemn to live in the home of a Christian father and mother, and to grow up and to reject the gospel of a Christian God. Friends, how solemn I feel.

How solemn it is to live in this world unsaved without Christ. I solemnly warn you tonight, and I say again reverently into the fear of God I say, we will bring you tonight into the immediate presence of God.

We'd like to open up your heart and let you see your heart and see my heart if God sees us. Oh, my friends, to see yourself lost and guilty and on the way to judgment, to find yourself from the very top of your head to the very bottom of your feet, the very sole of your feet, to see wounds and bruises and putrefying sores.

See yourself as a poor, lost, guilty sinner standing in the holy, holy, holy presence of God. Friends, I ask you, I ask every man in this room tonight, every lady in this room, every boy and every girl in this room, have you yet discovered yourself as a poor, lost, guilty, hell-deserving sinner?

You say, well, sir, I'm not very bad. I've done the very best I can. I try to keep the Ten Commandments. I try to live a good life. I try to please my neighbors. I pay my bills. My friends, that's not the question.

The question is if you are guilty and God says you're guilty. God says you're guilty. Now, I don't say you're guilty. I don't say you're guilty, my friends. We don't say you're guilty. Those who invited us to make this call, we don't say you're guilty.

But God says you're guilty. Look at what he says in the third chapter, the third chapter of Romans. He says that every mouth may be stopped. Every mouth may be stopped. And all the world become guilty.

Guilty before God. The whole world guilty before God. Then you say, what will I do? What must I do? How can I escape if I have to meet God? If death faces me, my friend, the Word of God, as it does, he says, if a poor young man wants to die, the way to the sin is death.

Death. You have to leave this world. And if the Lord Jesus doesn't come soon, we who are Christians are going to have to leave this world by death. So we will enter into the presence of our blessed Lord.

We must pass through death unless Christ comes. So you are saved, friend. Death faces you. And if tonight your eyes were closed in death, you would not end in the grave, as the agnostic Atheist says, but the moment your eyes closed in death, the very moment your loved ones start to weep over your dead body, that very moment your eyes will open up in a Christless eternity.

And you would be conscious immediately that you were doomed for God's eternity. Immediately. Isn't that so? I ask you reverently. I ask you in God's name. How do you sleep? How do you sleep at night? How do you go to bed and sleep at night?

How do you close your eyes? How dare you sleep without Christ? How dare you close your eyes and sleep and sleep for eight hours or nine hours in your sins with the judgment of God hanging over you? And the Lord's coming may be this very night.

You will be doomed for all eternity. Doomed for all eternity. God tells us solemnly in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. He's going to send a strong delusion over those who've heard the gospel and rejected Christ.

They're going to believe the devil's lies, that they all may be damned. Those are the very words of God himself. Oh, my friends, I solemnly warn you. I solemnly warn you. For the Lord Jesus said in the 13th chapter of Luke's gospel, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

What does it mean to repent? It means to take sides with God against yourself. To take sides with God against yourself and say to God, you're right, you're true. I'm a sinner. I'm guilty. I'm lost. I'm hell-deserving.

That, my friends, is repentance. I ask you solemnly, have you ever yet, on bended knee, have you ever yet found yourself in the presence of God? Found yourself in the presence of God and swiped on your breath, like the publican in the 17th, 18th chapter of Luke who said, God is merciful.

Believe me, a sinner. I say to you, my friends, you'll never get to heaven. You'll never get there until you find out you're a sinner, until you find out you're lost, until you find out that you're guilty.

Christ Crucified as the Sinner’s Hope

Now I'd like to turn to the next question, which is found in Matthew 27. And here we have the hope for the sinners. Oh, isn't it wonderful? The sinner's hope. The sinner's refuge. The sinner's peace. The sinner's savior.

The 27th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Here we find the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary. What a solemn thing to think. To this very world in which we live, this world that boasts of its education, boasts of its wisdom, boasts of its knowledge, boasts of its improvement, this very world dares to lay the Lord Jesus Christ upon his God on the cross of Calvary and smash through his hand with nails and nails of the cross, have him spit in his face, have him crown his head with thorns, have him bruise and beat in his back, have him show him the robber in his place.

This very world in which we live tonight is guilty, friends, listen solemnly, is guilty of the murder of the Son of God. Read again, I just read, as you did the other day in the press, that this man named Eichmann is responsible for the death of five million Jews.

But I tell you this world is guilty far more guilty than that. This world has murdered the Son of God. This world has murdered the Christ of God. This world has murdered the beloved Son of the Father.

This world, my friends, is sent back into heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ, with the nail marks on his hands and feet inside, the spear mark on his side, which has told God himself, this world does not want Christ.

I ask you tonight, my friends, do you want him and do you love him? Isn't that wonderful? The very God against whom you have sinned, the very God whose name you have blasphemed maybe, the very God you pushed out of your life, the very God you never thanked for your health and strength, the very God you never thanked for your home, for the comfortability of your life, that God loves you so much that he can't love you more.

Isn't that wonderful? And so in the 27th chapter of Matthew's Gospel, we read the 44th verse, The thieves, all to which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Now from the sixth hour, that is 12 o 'clock dinner time, 12 o 'clock noon, from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour, and about the ninth hour Jesus cried, with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lamb of the faxenite, that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Here we find the forsaken one, the only man that God ever forsook, the only man that God ever forsook. What a solemn thing to be forsaken of God. There's no man living to be forsaken of God. If God was to forsake you for one minute, my friend, you'd die with your very breath in his hand.

He holds your very breath in his hand, the very heartbeat through his hand, through his power. And yet here we find the forsaken one. Here we find in the hours of darkness the son of God, the one of whom the heavens opened in the third chapter of Matthew and the third chapter of Luke.

And the Father's voice said from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And now we find him forsaken. I ask you, why did God forsake him? Why was he forsaken? He asked the question, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Friends, you want to know the truth? Oh, I know there's many in this room tonight who can come up here in this platform and tell us with joy in their hearts the answer to this solemn, solemn question.

And as eternal ages roll on, as the man Christ Jesus stands in the midst of all his redeemed people, we will never tire of telling and retelling the answer to this marvelous question, my God, my God. Why don't we turn our eyes upward into the very glory of God and we say, Lord Jesus, thou hast forsaken the cows on that cross.

Thou hast buried my sins, my sins and my own precious body in the trees. He who has made sin for us, he who knew no sin, he might be made the righteousness of God in him. The holy, holy, Christ's holy son of God became the sin-bearer on the cross of Calvary.

You say, sir, could he bear my sins? Could he bear my sins? If you'll believe him, if you'll sublimate your Savior, thank God for your sins. If you'll take him into your heart as your living, loving Savior, thank God before your sins.

The judgment of God was poured upon his spotless, sinless head. And now eternal peace, eternal joy to our very sinner of Adam's race who will invite the Lord Jesus into their heart by faith. Oh, my friends, I ask you tonight, have you ever seen this picture?

We look, we sometimes, the city where we come from in Montreal, there's a great cross stands on Mount Royal. And I know that people, as they approach the great city, they see on Mount Royal the cross that stands there.

What does the cross mean, my friends? It's the man of the cross. He's no longer on that cross. He's no longer there. He's no longer in the grave. But Christ arose and manhood has gone back into the glory of God.

And tonight at the right hand of God sits a man, a man, a real living at the right hand of God. And that man is my Savior. Is he your Savior? That man died for my sins. Can you tell the judgment of God for me?

Can you say, yes, the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior. He died for me on Calvary's cross. I ask you girls and boys, is Christ your personal Savior? Has he won your heart? Can you look upon that cross and turn back the pages 2 ,000 years and see this suffering one, the forsaken one upon the cross and say, he died for me.

Under the judgment of God, he died for me. He suffered the just for the unjust to bring me to God. He was wounded for my transgressions, bruised my iniquities, and the chastisement of my feats was upon him and with his stripes.

I am healed. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Roman soldier, the pierced his thigh. The reply comes back from the God of all grace, the blood of Jesus Christ.

God's Son cleanses us from all sins. Isn't it wonderful, my friends, to be a Christian? Are you a Christian? I mean by a Christian, not a person who's not a Jew. I don't mean a person who lives in a burial.

I mean a Christian who has Christ living in their heart. I mean by a man or woman who has Christ in the heart for all others are fake. All others are fakes and false prophets on the way to eternal hell.

And I ask you, is Christ your Savior? Does Christ live in your heart? Little boy, little girl, young man, young lady, I challenge you. Does Christ live in your heart? If he doesn't, you're not saved. Does Christ live in your heart?

If your heart is a dwelling place in the Son of God, if it's not, you're lost. You're lost. You're going down to the pit. Regardless of race, color, or creed, without Christ there's no salvation. My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?

Lord Jesus, God was forsaken in my womb and said, die for me. And you say it, my friends, and you say it from your heart, Christ is my Savior. The next question we find in the 10th chapter of Matthew 27, the 21st verse.

“What Shall I Do with Jesus?” and the Necessity of Decision

The governor, that's Pilate, the governor answered and said, unto them, whether it be swaying that I release unto you. Now notice, friends, notice they said, Barabbas, the 22nd verse, Pilate said unto them, what shall I do then with Jesus, which is called the Christ?

They all said unto him, let him be crucified. Here we have our fourth question. Our fourth question might be called decision. You must decide for Christ or against Christ. And as you go to these doors tonight, you may say, but sir, I'm neutral.

I take neutral ground. I either accept or reject. I say you can't do it. You can't do it. If you don't accept Christ tonight, you leave this room. Sing in your heart, but not with your voice. I will not receive him.

I will not have him. For Pilate's question rings down through the centuries. What shall I do with Jesus, which is called the Christ? Notice, there was no neutrality. There was no footnote to question.

They all said, let him be crucified. They came to a decision at once. They made a minute's decision. I don't suppose there was ever a solemn question asked like this before. And yet there was no going home to describe it.

There was no going home to talk about it. There was no going home to pray about it. They made a minute's decision. They said, let him be crucified. They were all of one mind. They said, we do not want Christ.

We will not have Christ. We will have Barabbas. We'll have Barabbas the robber. And God said in John chapter 18, the last verse, now Barabbas was a robber. And this world dares to ask. Educated men, business men, the world leaders, dare to ask, why does God allow war?

Why does God allow crime when this world says he'll have the robbers? We'll have Barabbas. His hands are stained with blood. He's a murderer, but we'll have him. Anything but Christ. And this world has never exchanged that decision.

This world still says tonight, anybody but Christ. Anybody. Yes, the beast, the antichrist, anybody but Christ. We will not have Christ in any terms under God's heaven. This world does not want Jesus.

I ask you, do you? Do you want him? He loves you. He proved his love of the cross. He said in this, from the very heart, I love to think of it, from the very heart he said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

Whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God loves you. God has blocked the door to hell with the cross of Christ. God has blocked the road to hell with the glorious cross of Christ.

And to go to hell, you must jump over the cross and let it land yourself in hell, my friend, for God loves you and he's proved his love. He proved his love with all his heart. He gave his son to die for you.

Oh, the Lord Jesus can say greater love has no man to miss than a man lay down his life for his friend and then he goes forward and dies for his enemy and shows a greater love, the love of Christ, matchless, eternal, unmeasurable love of Christ.

He loves you. He loves you, my friend. Isn't there somebody on stage in this room? Somebody who has come to the end of himself? Somebody whom God has brought down low, brought them down very low, made them like your burden on your sins.

All I say is a welcome waiting for you. The very arms of Jesus reached out to take you into his heart of love. The very gates of heaven stand open over the gates of heaven, that marvelous word, whose whoever will may come and take the water of life freely.

God, choose a valiant party that's giving God and the Lord Jesus said to the woman at the well, If thou knewest God is a giving God, thou wouldst have asked of him, he would have given me living water.

What a God he is. He loves you, my friend. All that these words say down in your poor heart, God loves you. Is there a Christian in this room tonight? A Christian who's backsliding? A Christian who's growing cold?

A Christian who can look back to the last conference in this very room as I remember a year ago when I was happy. But the devil's come in and stole my happiness away and I'm miserable tonight. I'm miserable.

I say God loves you. The Lord Jesus stands ready to bring you back into restoration and joy in your heart. I pray God that everybody in this room, every Christian in this room, will receive tonight a blessing in their hearts as they leave this hall rejoicing in Christ and the matchless love of God to call us the prophets of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh my friend, are you saved tonight? Are you saved tonight? If you're not, you're lost. What shall I do with Jesus? You must do something. You have to do something. You have to receive him. You have to receive him.

What shall I do with Jesus? The world says we don't want him. Crucify him. As many in this room, by the grace of God, have received him into our hearts as our precious Savior. Will you receive him tonight?

He stands at your heart's door and knocks. His tears of hand knocks in your heart as, behold, I stand at the door and knock. Will you open your heart tonight and receive him into your life? Now our last question.

“What Think Ye of Christ?”

I think it's from the 22nd chapter of Matthew. In Matthew, and the first part, there's five words, verse 42. What think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? There are those who come to our door sometimes and we say to them, what think ye of Christ?

They always say, was this a creature? Just another man like us? He was only another person just like us. Well, I ask you tonight, my friends, what think ye of Christ? I turn reverently to the heavens.

I look up into the very face of God and I say, what think ye of Christ? To the heavens, bring us all their joy. This is my beloved son whom I pride all my life. What think ye of Christ? To Peter, we say, Peter, what do you think of Christ, Peter?

What think ye of Christ? Simon Peter says, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Oh, my friends, what he made the heavens, he made the earth. He made all things. He upholds all things by the worship and power of the Son of God, the eternal Son of God.

Yea, God came into this world. That God will become a man in the person of Christ. And for eternal ages, God in manhood will enjoy what sinners save by grace. The results of his work come across us in Calvary.

And all heaven will ascribe to that glorious Savior who at the end of Revelation says, I, Jesus, have sent my name. All the glory of God is put upon him in the book of Revelation. And at the end of the book, he still is Jesus, the lowly glorified man, a man of glory.

His love is open at every barrier down. Let yourself stand, let yourself stand on that rock, as he won your heart. Dear man, tonight some of us were down in the hall and we were praying for you. We were praying that God would speak to you tonight that you would have heard not just my voice, but you would have heard the very voice of God.

The Final Appeal to Receive Christ

And this speaker, I feel part of the personal reference who sat in the gospel hall 32 years ago in the city of Montreal and heard those who are now our brethren in Christ preach the same precious gospel of the grace of God.