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66 The Great Opportunity
God loves
—
loves—the world, and so does God’s people. God cared for
the people of the orient as much as He cares for us, but for reasons
that probably He only knows. He decreed that the Gospel should go
west, and in going west it entered Europe and conquered and continued
west until It reached the American shores. From New England it
travelled over the vast expanse of the American continent and reach-
ing our western shores it did not stop but continued, as it should, to
Japan and China and India. But somehow we avoided the north. We
sent our missionaries west to Japan, China and India and the islands
of the sea, but why have we avoided the great north, Russia? If we
have been swept under the banner of Christ by the westward march
of the Gospel triumphant, is it not our blessed duty to
Go West
even as Paul did? We are now facing the country on which Paul
turned his back -for our sokes, as it were. The Gospel having gone
around the world, we are face to face with the country on which he
turned his back at the bidding of the Spirit.
When Professor David Nyvall spoke here today, I learned some-
thing about the missions of my own denomination, that was of great
interest to me. A^ou know Sweden had missionaries in Russia years
ago, at the time Russia was practically a closed field. Russian autoc-
racy did not want the Gospel and our missionaries were driven out.
When our missionaries from Sweden were driven out, the sister church
in this country decided to send missionaries to Alaska, to be on the
lookout there for the first opening to enter Russia from the back
door.
If you will look at the map you will discover a singular resemblance
between Asia Minor and Alaska—both of them peninsulas looking
across a narrow strip of water to another continent. When I see our
missionaries up there in Alaska, looking across the straits, ready to
jump over, into Russia’s back door, with the Gospel, I cannot but
remember the band of four at Troas, ready to jump across, from Asia
to Europe.
Paul saw a vision. Have you had your vision yet? "Oh," says some-
one, "you are visionaries; I’ll have nothing to do with you." Brother,
do you know it takes visionaries to become good missionaries? Colum-
bus was a visionary. If he had not had his dreams the only Americans
there would have been today, would have been the redskins. Thank
God, Paul was a visionary. He saw more than common, matter-of-fact,
materialists ever can see. He saw
A Mail
We have heard today about Russia’s one hundred eighty two mil-
lions. Just forget the great multitude for a moment. Don’t think
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