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A Foundation of Truth

Lesson 44

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Three-wattled Bellbird

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Male Three-wattled Bellbird, Costa Rica

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Bearded Bellbird

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6Bellbird, New Zealand

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7Bellbird, New Zealand

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The Sabbath Conferences

• The first one was held in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, in April 1848. James and Ellen White and Joseph Bates attended. The population of Rocky Hill in 1850 was 1,042, and its elevation is only 223 feet, so it really is just a little hill.

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• The next one took place in Volney, New York, a town close to Lake Ontario. Disagreements occurred, but Ellen White was given a vision to correct the false beliefs causing the division.

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15 Gene Wilburn

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• Four more conferences occurred that year. James and Ellen White and Joseph Bates attended all of them. One was in Hiram Edson’s barn; another was in Topsham, Maine.

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It was during a Sabbath Conference in Dorchester, Massachusetts, that Ellen White was given a vision showing that the Sabbath truth would grow brighter

and brighter until Jesus comes. After this vision she encouraged Joseph Bates to

print another book on the Sabbath, which he did, and her husband to start

printing a little paper, which he also did.

19Boston Public Library

20 Boston Public Library

21Boston Public Library

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In 1849, James White started printing The Present Truth, in 1850 the

Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, and in 1852 The Youth’s Instructor.

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“The young, at this day, are exposed to many evils and dangers, and they must have right instruction to enable them to know how to shun them. And although

the world never was so full of books and papers as at the present time, yet there is but very little written that is calculated to lead the youth to feel the need of the Saviour, and to impress them with the

importance of shunning vice, and living a virtuous, sober and holy life. . . .

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“We give four lessons in this number, one for each week, and hope the

parents will establish Sabbath Schools, even where there are but two or three children in a place. And we expect the

children will read them over many times, so as to be able to answer all

the questions.

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“We design that the Instructor shall be filled with sensible matter, not only for the benefit of small children, but for the instruction of the youth from sixteen to twenty

years of age.” (James White, The Youth’s

Instructor, pp. 1, 2)

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The first two lessons were on the Sabbath, the third was on the law of God, and the

fourth lesson was entitled “The Ark of the Testimony.”

At the end of the paper, Brother White asked a number of questions about the

lessons. Here are the questions for the first lesson on the Sabbath:

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• What does the word Sabbath mean?

• When connected with [the word] day, what does it signify?

• How long was God creating all things?

• On what day of the week did he rest? Repeat the fourth commandment.

• What does the commandment to remember the Sabbath-day show?

• What day of the week does the commandment tell us to keep?

• How are we to keep the Sabbath?

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• Whose example do we follow in resting on the seventh day?

• Why was the Sabbath instituted or made for man?

• What is the great object of keeping holy the Lord’s Sabbath-day?

• Why have so many forgotten God and sinned against him?

• How did the Lord make the Sabbath for man?

• Where is the account of God resting and then blessing the seventh day? Repeat it.

• When was the seventh-day called the Sabbath?

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• When did the Sabbath begin?

• When we are commanded to keep the Sabbath-day, or rest-day of the Lord, what day must we keep?

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Next the group of Advent believers decided to organize, and in May 1863 representatives met in Michigan and

decided on a name--Seventh-day Adventists!

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The End!