The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

V. First Sabbath School Lessons Include Prophecy

The first set of Sabbath school lessons for the Sabbatarian Adventists was prepared by James White in 1852, and publication began with the very first (August) issue of the Youth’s Instructor. These lessons were a blend of doctrinal and practical truths—including the Sabbath, sanctuary, law of God, life of Christ, and second advent. They were not in question-and-answer form, but carried questions at the end of each lesson discussion. But White soon found that he did not have time to continue writing lessons. ²³ In the issue of February, 1853, beginning with Lesson 20, he launches a series on the prophecies of Daniel, from J. V. Himes’s 1844 “Berean’s Assistant,” which he endorsed. In effective question-and-answer form, these cover Daniel 1:1 to 8:12 (June, 1853), and follow the established Millerite seventh-month movement exposition of these basic prophetic outlines and their related time periods. PFF4 1068.1

Then from August, 1853, onward, the paper carries a new series of lessons by Uriah Smith. These cover the Old Testament sanctuary and the daily and yearly phases of its ritual, climaxing in the Day of Atonement, all of this symbolizing the mediation of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, beginning with the time when He became our all-sufficient Sacrifice and High Priest and ending with the final phase of His ministry, in connection with the cleansing of the sanctuary spoken of by Daniel. PFF4 1068.2

Following a year’s gap without lessons, Roswell F. Cottrell contributed a series (August, 1854-July, 1855) on the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, ending with signs of the second advent, the 2300 years, and the three angels’ messages. PFF4 1068.3

That was the essential content and scope of the first systematic Sabbath school lessons, including a large proportion of lessons on prophecy, for the young people of the developing church, written between 1852 and 1855. PFF4 1069.1