Joseph Bates & the Sabbath Pact Season 2 | Episode 11
In the vicinity of Washington, New Hampshire,
there were two other men along with Frederick Wheeler
who were instrumental in the history of the Sabbath:
T. M. Preble and Cyrus Farnsworth.
T. M. Preble wrote a tract entitled,
'Tract, Showing that the Seventh Day Should Be Observed as the Sabbath.'
This tract was very influential,
for it found its way to Paris Hill, Maine
and also to the home of Joseph Bates.
Bates read it and was convinced of it,
but wanted to investigate further.
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Joseph Bates heard about a group of Sabbath-keepers
in Washington, New Hampshire,
and before making any major changes, he decided to visit.
He traveled by train and stagecoach
to the town of Hillsboro where Frederick Wheeler lived.
Despite arriving at 10:00 p.m., he was invited in
and said that he wanted to look at every argument in the Bible
in favour of the Sabbath.
That night, the two men studied together and talked until the morning.
Joseph Bates took notes, and in the morning they both knelt to pray
and committed their lives to preaching on the Sabbath truth.
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The next day, the two men traveled 12 miles
to the home of Cyrus Farnsworth.
There, on a warm day, in the front garden under the maple trees
Frederick Wheeler and Cyrus Farnsworth
continued Joseph Bates' crash course on the Sabbath.
Along with T. M. Preble's tract on the Sabbath,
Bates was now fully convinced.
He bade his farewell
and started his three-day journey home with a lot to think about.
[music]
Arriving back in Fairhaven,
he was walking home from the train depot
when he met his neighbor James Madison Monroe Hall
as he was crossing the bridge from New Bedford to Fairhaven.
Bates was greeted with the question, 'What's the news, Captain Bates?'
To which he responded,
'The news is that the seventh day is the Sabbath.'
After a short conversation,
Bates arranged to meet with Mr Hall and the other Advent believers
to study this subject out.
By the next Sabbath
Mr Hall was a Sabbath-keeper, and his wife the week after.
Bates would be instrumental in the adoption of the Sabbath
by the disappointed Adventists.
He had a special burden to teach on this subject,
and the tracts he wrote would be instrumental in convincing many people,
in particular James and Ellen White.
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Joseph Bates was at home writing when his wife came in
and said she needed some more flour to finish the baking.
He went down to the shop
and used all the last money that he had to buy four pounds of flour.
His wife, Prudence, was very upset.
Firstly, that he had used all the money that they had,
and secondly that he only had enough to buy four pounds of flour.
She asked him what he was going to do,
to which he responded that he was going to write a book on the Sabbath
and spread it to the world.
About half an hour later, he was impressed to go to the post-office
and when he arrived, there was a letter for him.
He didn't have enough money to even pay for the postage,
but asked the postmaster if he would open it.
When he did, he found there was a $10 bill inside,
and he used this money to buy a more generous supply of groceries
and also to arrange for the printing of his next tract.
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Within a few years, this truth on the Sabbath would grow remarkably.
In 1848 there were six major conferences on the Sabbath,
with Bates presenting at most of them.
After the Great Disappointment of 1844
and the scattering that the various winds of doctrine would cause after this,
God was using this truth to gather his people around.
Proverbs 4:18 says, 'The path of the just is as a shining light
that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.'
God was slowly leading His people back to a full understanding of His word.
May we follow God as He leads us, day by day and step by step.