Joseph Bates  

       There was a sea captain by the name of Joseph Bates.  He was in the army in 1812.  They lived near the place that is known to be the place of the landing of the pilgrims in the ship called the Mayflower.   

       His son also was Joseph Bates.  His parents did not want him to go on the sea.  

    He went on a short voyage and was very certain he wanted to spend time on the Atlantic ocean.  

        He went to England and South America. He had many hair-raising experiences.  The ice burgs they saw were a real hazard.   

         The waters were full of pirates ready to plunder and steal and kill and take over the ship.  Captain Bates was bringing back food from his trading with the natives.  

       On one of his journeys to England he was captured as a prisoner to work in the English army and do their dirty work.  At times they were quite hungry.  The letters they wrote were edited and sometimes never got anywhere.  

      They spent some time on the Mediterranean Sea keeping watch. After some horrible experiences in the prison camps they reluctantly set them free.  Of course many of them had died so their families never saw them again.  

           Captain Joseph Bates spent years sailing the seas and selling his merchandise in South America at which there were times they were plundered and robbed on the water.  

           The Lord was working on his heart because he was seeing how terrible the use of alcohol and tobacco were.  The use of these things on the ship was a continuous habit for most of the sailors.  

      So Captain Joseph Bates decided not to use them anymore.  It was not easy for him when everyone else was drinking and smoking on the ship and they saw he was standing up for the right so they would make fun of him but eventually he had a clean crew on board at one time.  

   He had to face some fierce storms and hurricanes.  Truly it was God that had mercy and some of them made it home again.  He had to have repairs done on his ship.  

        He wanted to go all the way with the Lord and gave his heart to Jesus.  

      He at last decided he had had enough of the sea and wanted to stay home with his family.  

    Now he was serious about serving the Lord so he started preaching the second coming of Christ.  

        November 13, 1833 was the day the stars fell from heaven.  There was a great meteoric shower that covered the sky.  Many people recognized this event as a sign of Christ’s soon return.  He continued to preach more of the doctrines of Jesus.  

     Then he learned about the true Sabbath.  This was strange and new to the people.  But they needed to learn the truth.  The Bible really says to remember the Sabbath Day on the day seven for God made it holy and sanctified that special day as a memorial of the creation of this world.