The Scriptures in Timbuktu
THE most effective missionary work is the dissemination of the Scriptures. Nothing else can so convict men of sin; nothing else can so forcibly portray the righteousness of Christ, through which men are to be turned to God. It is a proverb that Timbuktu is the synonym in all Sahara for Mohammedan exclusiveness and fanaticism; yet the Mission Bulletin says that three years ago a Mohammedan merchant of that city, went to the English settlement of Bathurst to trade. While there he was given a Scripture text card in Arabic. The next year, he went again on business, and asked for the book from which that wonderful text was taken. A Bible was shown him, and he bought it. The third year he bought eighteen Bibles for friends, who were anxious to have the Book. Now the British Bible Society is about to establish a depository in Timbuktu.