The Training Of The Twelve Or Passages Out Of The Gospels

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VIII. FIRST ATTEMPTS AT EVANGELISM. Section I. -- The Mission. Matt. x.; Mark vi. 7-13, 30-32; Luke ix. I-II. The twelve are now to come before us as active agents in advancing the kingdom of God. Having been for some time in Christ's company, witnessing His miraculous works, hearing His doctrine concerning the kingdom, and learning how to pray and how to live, they were at length sent forth to evangelize the towns and villages of their native province, and to heal the sick in their Master's name, and by His power. This mission of the disciples as evangelists or miniature apostles was partly, without doubt, ' an educational experiment for their own benefit; but its direct design was to meet the spiritual necessities of the people, whose neglected condition lay heavy on Christ's heart. The compassionate Son of man, in the course of His wanderings, had observed how the masses of the population were, like a shepherdless flock of sheep, scattered and torn,1 and it was His desire that all should know that a good Shepherd had come to care for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The multitudes were ready enough to welcome the good news; the difficulty was to meet the pressing demand of the hour. The harvest, the grain, ready for reaping, was plenteous, but the laborers were few.1 In connection with this mission four things call for special notice: The sphere assigned for the work, the nature of the work, the instructions for carrying it on, the results of the mission, and the return of the missionaries. These points we shall consider in their order, except that, for convenience, we shall reserve Christ's instructions to His disciples for the last place, and give them a section to themselves. * (

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Excerpt from The Training of the Twelve; Or Passages Out of the Gospels: Exhibiting the Twelve Disciples of Jesus Under Discipline for the Apostleship The subject of this book has occupied my thoughts more or less since the commencement of my ministry, twelve years ago. Turning up a manuscript volume of jotting for the pulpit in my possession, I find its title-page is as follows: "Brief notes of sermons on Christ's intercourse with twelve disciples, preached in Cardross, begun September 1861." These notes were the rude beginnings of this work; yet not the rudest, for in the previous year I had made the same passages from the Gospels the subjects of lessons in catechumens' class. I was led to transfer these lessons from the class to the pulpit in the following way. During an autumnal holiday, spent in the country-quarters of dear friends, to whom I have many reasons to be grateful, I was in such a distempered condition of body, that all thought and feeling were dead, and I dreaded the prospect of returning to pastoral duty, being sensible of mental vacuity. At length my perplexities shaped themselves into a prayer that I might be led into green pastures, as the old ones were all nibbled bare. Shortly after thoughts reverted to the lessons given to catechumens' class, and I at once resolved to make these the subject of a course of lectures. The studies on which I entered in pursuance of this resolution, proved to be green pastured to myself at least. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

'The Training of the Twelve' (by A. B. Bruce( provides a classic study of Jesus' teaching and training of his disciples. Using a loose "harmony of the Gospels" approach, Bruce pulls from all four gospel narratives to show how Jesus discipled His disciples. The book's greatest strength is that it is not as a how-to book on discipleship or a 12-step program for leadership development. Instead, Bruce exegetes the passages showing what Jesus was doing with his disciples and leaves contemporary application to the reader. Bruce's book, which was first published in 1871, is a valuable study for any Christian who serves in any form of leadership capacity or who seeks to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Its 31 chapters provide an absorbing commentary on selected passages of the four Gospels, following Jesus ministry and teaching among his disciples in chronological order. Although the writing style may take a bit of getting used to for modern readers, the result is well worth the effort. The table of Scripture references discussed in the book also makes it a useful reference work—after it has been read from cover to cover. Theologically sound and biblically true, this book comes highly recommended to anyone desiring to obey Jesus's command to make disciples.

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