Bates Spreads The Sabbath-1

March 4 - Bates Spreads The Sabbath-1

 


And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who all go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." Isa. 6:, RSV.

Soon after accepting the Sabbath, Bates traveled to Washington, New Hampshire, to meet with Wheeler, the Farnsworth brothers, and other Adventists who observed it. Wheeler's son Goerge reports that Bates arrived about 10:00 in the evening, "after the family were all in bed." George heard his father let someone in. And during the night he woke from time to time to hear their voices. They talked all night long, and then continued on until noon. At that point Bates headed for home.

Back in Massachusetts Bates met James madison Monroe Hall on the bridge that linked the towns of Fairhaven and New Bedford.

It was at that encounter that Hall blurted out the fateful question that probably diverted his activities for the rest of the day and certainly changed his life forever. "What's the news, Captain Bates?"

"The news," he replied, is that "the seventh day is the Sabbath, and we ought to keep it."

I don't know how long they spent on that bridge, but given Bates' usual style, it could have been all day. What we do know is that Hall went home, studied his Bible on the topic, and observed the next Sabbath. His wife followed him a week later. Hall was Bates' first convert to an understanding that would shape both men's lives from that day onward.

For his part, Hall thereafter held Bates in such high regard that he named his only son Joseph Bates Hall.

Ever afterward Joseph Bates was a man with a mission. And he would not slack in that endeavor until he was on his deathbed. Nothing could stop him.

In the early 1850s, for example, Bates reports a five-week missionary tour in Canada during which for more than 20n days he struggled with heavy snow and extreme cold, on one occasion "wading through deep snow for 40 miles" to take his message to an interested family.

Another time he cout through three feet of ice so that he could find enough water to baptize seven people in -30oF weather.

And we thought we were zealous! Look again.

God help me this day to take Your message more seriously. Help me to move beyond my comfort zone.

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