The printed page or book is fully as important as a spoken word. Where men can read and reading is available, the Book of books has great advantages. With the invention of printing came the revival of learning and the Reformation.

Of course writing and reading were common long before printing was invented. The whole history of civilisation goes back to the day when man began to write records. The written record was the mother of civilisation. Ur of the Chaldees had its libraries in the time of Abraham.

The Vedas gives us Indian social life; no one knows the exact date of the Aztec calendar and its inscriptions; the monuments and inscriptions in the tombs of Egypt tell a story which is no longer The Book of the Dead; Moses was acquainted with all the wisdom of Egypt. So we have in Scripture at the outset, “God and a tablet of stone written by His own hand and at the end of all things earthly - God and an opened book.”

Between that earliest revelation and God’s last word is the Battle of the Books - the Word of God against the words of man. For there are many voices in religion, but only one divine revelation. There have been many prophets but only one Saviour. That is the eternal issue. “The grass withered, the flower fadeth; but the word of God abideth forever.”

The prophets of the Old Testament were not content with their spoken message. Neither was God. Moses was commanded to write (Exodus 24:4) and Jesus testified that he wrote of Him (John 5:46). David wrote at least some of the Psalms, for they bear the imprint of his tragic and triumphant life. Isaiah and Jeremiah wrote their prophetic messages (2 Chronicles 26:22; Jeremiah 36:2; 36:1-16). As for the Apostles, their message was not only preaching but also epistles.

The history of the expansion of the Church has always included the figure of the writer with his inkhorn by his side. Barnabas and Clement wrote epistles. Justin wrote two apologies and a dialogue with a Jew. Tatian prepared a harmony of the Gospels. Commodianus used poetical ridicule against the goals of the heathen. Tertullian brought all his abilities into the service of the Gospel by his pen, and Cyprian wrote on the “Vanity of Idols.” At the time of the Reformation, Calvin and Luther, to mention no others, did more by their pens than in any other way.

The fact is that in all ages and in all lands the written page has been the ubiquitous missionary. We are told that Luther threw an inkpot at the devil in the Wartburg while preparing his version of the German Bible. The legend is prophetic. The best thing to throw at the devil of ignorance and error is an inkpot - in modern terms all forms of literature!

The influence of the earliest Bible translations on the life of a people is a story that never grows old. What Jerome, Wycliffe, Ulfilas, Luther and others did for Europe, Martyn, Bruce, Van Dyck, Goodell and Riggs did for the Muslim near east, and hundreds of other translators for the tribes of Africa and the peoples of Asia.

It is true that Bible pictures, drama and visual presentations have their place in evangelism and can give a message of truth. But none of these, including radio, together, have the permanent and penetrating power of the printed page. Moreover there is an ancient and divine sanction for the written word.

Few missionaries in the Near East were such eager personal workers and preachers of the Gospel as L. Lillias Trotter of Algiers. Yet she wrote:

“There is one way above all others in which the final evangelisation of the world can be speeded. Men and women take long to train, long to qualify, even when on the field: they are costly to keep, costly to move about and much in ‘evidence’ to unfriendly eyes. But we can send here, there, everywhere, over hundreds of miles of unreached territory, the swiftly travelling messengers in print, costing as little to issue by the thousand as the single living messenger would expand in a week. Should not those who believe that ’the King’s business requireth haste’ use them to the very utmost?”

President Charles R. Watson of Cairo once sent a cable-gram to America reading: “No agency can penetrate Islam so deeply, abide so persistently, witness so daringly and influence so irresistibly as the printed page.” Such has been my own experience for forty years in Muslim lands.

Mr. Hooper and I sailed down the Red Sea, and we tried to land at Yenbo, the port of Medina. When they saw us the people said, “This is holy ground, and no Christian is allowed to land at Yenbo.” one man stepped out of the crowd. “Yes, they shall land,” he said, “because I am their friend.” I said, “Who are you?” He said, “My name is Muhammad.” We followed him to his house, and after he had showed us his hospitality in true Arabic fashion, he said, “Do not call me Muhammad, but call me by my new name (Gurgis (George).” He brought down from a shelf a copy of the New Testament and turned to the last chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel and read to us, “Baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” He said, “One day I obeyed that command and I baptised myself Gurgis.” What could we do when a Muslim inquirer proved his faith by his works and announced his own baptismal name in that lonely port in the west of Arabia?

An Arab who came to see a missionary colleague described how the gospel differed from the Quran by saying, “ The Quran resembles one of those costly vessels that come to us from Persia filled with rose-water and carefully sealed, for which you pay a high price in the market. But the Bible resembles the Euphrates and the Tigris coming down from Aleppo and pouring out life for the whole of Mesopotamia.”

And here are some questions asked by young Muslims in crowded meetings held in Madras, Hyderabad, Bombay and Lahore. They had read the Gospel. “One of the chief claims which Christians advance as to the personality of Jesus is that He is the Son of God. Can these claims be substantiated from Mark 10:18; Luke 18:6; Matthew 19:17; and John 14:12; and John 20:17?” “Did Jesus ever dream of making Himself pass for an incarnation of God? Please give me evidence from the three synoptic Gospels.” What inference would you draw from verses expressing that Jesus was God and His dying cry? See Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34.” This whole series of questions proves that they were not only familiar with the Scriptures, but that they were studying the Bible for the evidence that the Bible affords of the mission and the works of Jesus Christ.

Once I visited an old mosque of Santa Sophia in Constantinople. Its magnificent dome has as an adornment one of the great texts of the Quran inscribed in beautiful Arabesque. The words, high above the heads of all the worshipers are these:

“God is the light of the Heavens and the Earth. His light is as of a lamp set in a niche, kindled from the blessed olive tree, neither of the East nor of the West. Light upon light, glory upon glory: God is light.”

When I entered Santa Sophia I saw the inscription and with my pockets full of literature, mostly the Gospels, I paused to read it. As I expected one of the Muslim worshippers said, “Can you read Arabic?” I said. “Yes, to read that is comparatively easy, but to understand it is not so easy.” He said, “Can you explain it? “ I said, “I should like to try. Let us sit down.” We sat down in the mosque, and a small company gathered round. Then I opened my Testament, gave away copies of the Gospel, and read to them from the eighth chapter of John: “Jesus said: I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” In the mosque they gladly accepted these Gospels and listened to the interpretation of God as the light, and the Light Incarnate, and the Light through His Holy Spirit, and there was none to hinder or make us afraid.

I visited an old sheikh in charge of the mosque of Omar in Jerusalem. After we had seen the tomb of Uthman, we sat in his little study. I asked him, “Have you got a Bible?” From a niche he brought out a Bible and there we sat together and studied that Book. He the man, who guarded the mosque of Omar, was seeking the light.

The printed page never flinches, never shows cowardice; it is never tempted to compromise; it never tires, never grows disheartened; it travels cheaply, and requires no hired accommodation; it works while we sleep; it never loses its temper, and it works long after we are dead. The printed page is a visitor that gets inside the home, and stays there; it always catches a man in the right mood, for it speaks to him only when he is reading it; it always sticks to what it has said, and never answers back.

The prayerful and tactful distribution of the Scriptures, the exposition of the Bible or Bible texts, the message of the Gospel in a shop window, or on a thoroughfare, the table for literature within and without the church - all these are legitimate and fruitful methods of evangelism for our day. Only let us be sure that the printed page carries a true message and that we begin, continue, and end this ministry of the Gospel, in prayer: