The “Pioneer” of the Pioneers

Born in 1792 and only 15 years of age when he left his home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, Joseph Bates early displayed the spirit of a pioneer. Twenty-one years he spent at sea; he experienced shipwreck, capture, forced service in the British Navy, and two and a half years as a prisoner of war.CS-SG 16.7

Because of the influence of his wife, Prudence, whom he married in 1818, he dedicated his life to God while still at sea. She served faithfully with him for more than fifty years until her death in August of 1870.CS-SG 16.8

In 1828, at the age of 36, he retired from the sea, having accumulated a modest fortune. For the next forty-four years he was a true pioneer on many fronts. He organized the Fairhaven Temperance Society, a local antislavery society, and was active in many causes relating to healthful living.CS-SG 16.9

It was in 1839 that he accepted the Second Advent and began preaching. In 1844 he sold his home and most of his other real estate in order to finance himself in preaching.CS-SG 16.10

An incident on Kent Island, in the Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay, illustrates the spirit of this pioneer. Some who opposed his message threatened to ride the 51-year-old Bates out of town on a rail. He instantly replied, “If you will put a saddle on it, we would rather ride than walk.” He also added: “If the Lord has no more for us to do, we had as lief lie at the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay as anywhere else until the Lord comes. But if He has any more work for us to do, you can’t touch us!”— The Early Life and Later Experience and Labors of Elder Joseph Bates, 1878 ed., p. 282.CS-SG 16.11

Up until the final month of his eightieth and final year, he was traveling and teaching in the churches. Such was the spirit of Joseph Bates, one of the oldest and most active of the pioneers.CS-SG 16.12

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