Picture a man who spent his entire adolescence at sea. At fifteen, Joseph Bates went aboard as a cabin boy and became a sailor. Years later, he already commanded his own ship, respected and with money in his pocket. A tough man, used to storms and to commanding tough men.
But the most important life of Bates began when he stepped off the ship. He gave up tobacco, gave up drinking, gave up tea and coffee. He founded one of the first temperance societies in America. And then he discovered a truth in the Bible that would change everything: the seventh-day Sabbath.
If you are a Pathfinder, keep the Sabbath or are curious about why Adventists keep it, this story is for you. Bates is not just a name on a list of pioneers. He is proof that an ordinary person, transformed by a conviction, can change the course of an entire history.
Who was captain Joseph Bates
Joseph Bates was born on July 8, 1792, near the old whaling town of New Bedford, in Massachusetts, in the United States. He grew up in the place now called Fairhaven, with the smell of the sea always nearby. It is no surprise that, at fifteen, he was already aboard a merchant ship.
For about two decades he lived the hard life of a sailor. He faced storms, was captured and held prisoner during the war between the United States and England, and even so he returned to the sea. By around 1820 he was already captain of his own ship. Little by little he gathered a small fortune and, around 1827, left the life of a sailor to live on dry land.
Hold on to that image: a man of fiber, a born leader, used to giving orders and being obeyed. God does not choose only the timid and the quiet. Sometimes He calls precisely the tough captain for a mission that requires courage. Bates did not yet know it, but the greatest voyage of his life was only just beginning.
The man who gave up everything that harmed him
Even before becoming a preacher, Bates already had an unusual care for body and mind. In 1821, still as a captain, he gave up cigarettes and chewing tobacco. Then he left tea and coffee. In 1843 he became a vegetarian. He made these choices out of conviction, decades before health became an official part of the Adventist message.
The most striking step came in 1827. On the day of his baptism, Bates asked for help to organize a temperance society. Thus was born the Fairhaven Temperance Society, considered one of the first of its kind in America, made up of about twelve members, most of them ship captains like him. A few years later, he saw with joy thousands of similar societies spread across the United States.
This speaks directly to the life of your Club. When you learn to say no to what harms the body, you are walking the same path that Bates opened almost two hundred years ago. If you want to go deeper, it is worth getting to know the Temperance Honor, which deals exactly with that: caring for the body as a gift from God.
How a captain discovered the Sabbath
Around 1845, Bates heard about a group of Christians in a small town called Washington, in New Hampshire, that had begun to keep the seventh day, the Sabbath, as a day of rest and worship. This idea did not come out of nowhere. It reached that group through Rachel Oakes, a woman who knew the truth of the Sabbath, and pastor Frederick Wheeler, who began to preach it.
Bates read about the subject in a leaflet and was intrigued. He went to check for himself, studying the Bible. He found the clear commandment in Exodus 20:8: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." It was not a human invention; it was an ancient commandment, written by the very finger of God. For a man used to checking maps and compasses, that made sense.
Convinced, Bates began to keep the Sabbath. And here is a lesson for you: he did not accept it because someone ordered him to, nor because it was fashionable. He studied, compared it with the Bible and decided with conviction. This is how a faith becomes firm, able to face any storm.
Read alsoWilliam Miller: the preacher who announced the return of JesusThe 1846 leaflet that changed the course
In 1846, Bates turned what he had studied into a tract with a long title, in the style of the time: "The Seventh Day Sabbath, a Perpetual Sign." In it, the former captain gathered the biblical arguments that had convinced him that the Sabbath is still valid for Christians.
This leaflet fell into the hands of a young newlywed couple: James White and Ellen White. They read it, studied it and began to keep the Sabbath. Notice the size of this. A single leaflet, written by a former sailor, helped shape the faith of two of the most important people in Adventist history.
It is the old truth that no one knows where a good message will end up. When you share something true, whether a verse, an invitation to the Club or an act of kindness, you never know how many people will be reached afterward. Bates wrote a leaflet; the result crossed centuries.
The link between the Millerites and the Adventist Church
To understand Bates's place in history, you need to know the background. In the 1840s, many Christians in the United States, called Millerites, expected the return of Jesus on a specific date. When that did not happen as they imagined, the movement scattered and many became discouraged.
It was at that moment that a small group, including Bates, the Whites and others, began to study the Bible more carefully. They did not give up on their faith. They rediscovered truths such as the Sabbath and the hope of Jesus's return. Bates was one of the three main co-founders of that movement, which years later received the name Seventh-day Adventist Church.
That is why he is called a link. Bates helped connect the old Millerite movement to what would become the Adventist Church. He took scattered pieces and helped stitch together a new hope. Without this bridge-building work, the story you live today in the Club would be very different.
What Bates's life teaches your Club
The first lesson is about studying before believing. Bates did not swallow ready-made ideas. He opened the Bible, checked, and only then committed himself. In your Club, you are invited to do the same: to ask, to investigate and to build a faith that is truly your own, and not merely inherited.
The second is about caring for the body. Long before there was an Honor about it, Bates already lived temperance. He shows that caring for health is not a boring rule, but a way to honor the body that God gave. If you want to understand better why Adventists keep this special day, see also why we keep the Sabbath.
The third is about courage. Bates was a tough captain, but he used that firmness for good. You do not have to wait until you are an adult to make a difference. A Pathfinder of ten or fifteen who lives out their convictions with courage, as Bates did, is already leaving a mark on the world around them.
Two verses that guided the captain
Bates's entire journey revolved around a simple and ancient commandment. Read calmly the text that convinced him, in Exodus 20:8-11 (KJV): "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God... For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth... and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."
The other verse that marked Bates's movement is at the end of the Bible, in Revelation 14:12 (KJV): "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." For Bates and his companions, this text united two things they loved: faithfulness to God and trust in Jesus.
Put the two together and you have the heart of the story. An ancient commandment from the beginning of the Bible, and a firm promise at its end. It was this bridge between the beginning and the end that an old sea captain decided to cross, and that today reaches you.