[Bates’ Pamphlet #2] Second Advent Way Marks and High Heaps

NINTH WAY MARK. - THE PATIENCE OF THE SAINTS KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND THE FAITH OR TESTIMONY OF JESUS

“Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith or testimony of Jesus;” Revelation 14:12. BP2 110.3

Here we come back again to the history of the advent, as the closing up of the messages of the three preceding angels. When the last had delivered his message in 9-11 v. the same as brought to view in 18:4, John sees this company on the picture before him - the saints in their patience “keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” This is an entire different company from those that had just passed before his eye. These are some of the same company seen in the sixth way mark, the Philadelphia Church. Jesus marks them by saying, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience,” etc. etc. Then, as we have shown, this church had come out of the fifth, the Sardis state, which we called the nominal church, precisely the same which the third angel speaks of as “having the mark of the beast and his image in his forehead and hand,” in 14:9, that had just preceded the last. He marks the time by showing them to be in the patient or trying time, just where the virgins were placed after they came out of the churches in the fall of 1844. What were they doing? We say they were keeping the seventh day Sabbath. John knew perfectly well what the commandments of God were. He sees them persecuted by the old dragon in the previous chapter, but did not say who and what they were until he had this view, only that they were a remnant (the last end, after all the rest had been cut off from them). Here then in the 14 chapter he designates them under an entire different character from their former associates. He could not nor does he say that those from whom they had separated kept the commandments; but this last company had been keeping nine of them, (or they could not have been made white,) but John does not give them or the others any credit for keeping a part, for James has said they were a perfect law and “if we offended in one point, we should be guilty of all.” Therefore as soon as he saw them keeping the fourth commandment which had been trampled under feet, he cries out, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God.” Every person of common sense that read their Bibles must know that not one particle of proof can be produced therefrom to prove that the keeping of the first day of the week is any more the keeping of the fourth commandment than keeping Thursday. Here, then, I prove is the difference that John saw. Here our history comes in again to fulfil this very point, as I have stated in my late work on the Sabbath, (see 58 and 59 pg.) and it binds down all the other way marks as it came to us, after we entered the furnace of affliction, and has been increasing ever since. Does not this company which you can and most likely do point out by name, in your different cities and towns, prove to a demonstration that the third angel’s message is, and must be given before there could be a company found as stated in 12th v. This is the remnant that is to be saved out of all the great company that published the good news and glad tidings of a coming Savior. “Blessed are they that DO his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city;” Revelation 22:14. Now this people are to be saved for keeping the commandments of God and the faith or testimony of Jesus. BP2 110.4

Then it will be very important to know what the commandments of God are, separate and distinct from the commandment and testimony of Jesus. BP2 111.1

Commandments of God. - They are ten. See Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13 and 10:4. They are given in detail in Exodus 20:3-17. “Given on two tables of stone, written by the finger of God;” Deuteronomy 9:10; Exodus 31:18. “And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God graven upon the tables;” Exodus 32:16. This also is called the covenant which God made with his people, Deuteronomy 9:9, and 4:13. When they were put into the ark, they were called the ark of the testimony. Of Moses? No, the testimony of God himself. Has God ever abolished this testimony? No. It is also called his word. Isaiah says, “the word of our God shall stand forever.” Will he ever abolish this covenant? Hear him: “My covenant will I not break, nor A L T E R the thing that has gone out of my lips.” Then I clearly perceive that the ten commandments which he calls his covenant, “his testimony,” “my word,” can never be altered or changed. When I write them on the hearts and minds of the Gentiles, it will be the same, unless I shall distinctly state to the contrary. God calls them his laws. Will they be changed? The Psalmist says, “the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.” Jesus says “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail.” Will it fail after Jesus is nailed to the cross? Paul speaks 25 years after, and says, “We establish the law” - “wherefore the law is holy, just and good.” James about the same time calls it a “perfect royal law,” the law of liberty by which we are to be judged. They are both speaking of the commandments. James quotes two out of the ten to show what he means, and says, “if we fail in one point of keeping the whole law, we are guilty of all.” “Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” Don’t forget these two last witnesses. Their testimony here does utterly and forever condemn every advocate for no Sabbath, and first day Sabbath in the world. Because if the law is broken or altered, it is impossible for it to be perfect or holy. BP2 112.1

Let God speak once more, and at a time, too, when men were violating his law. “How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws. [You have violated my Sabbath.] See for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath. So the people rested on the seventh day;” Exodus 16:27-30. What is the testimony of the Savior, to the man enquiring for eternal life? “If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments.” Six only are named, and these all relating to our duty with man. It is said by our opponents, because the Sabbath was not mentioned, that the fourth commandment was not in force. By the same rule, the first three must be abolished; that is, pay no regard to God, only love your neighbor. Jesus proved this man a hypocrite without testing his love to God, by quoting the first table or four commandments. For you see if he had have loved God with all his heart, he would have sold all and been perfect, “but as he had only kept the last six in the decalogue, he went away sorrowful;” Matthew 19. That he did not always leave out our duty to God in the commandments, see his sermon on the mount. “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments [beware oh vain man,] and shall teach men so, shall be least (or as Campbell translates it,) shall be in no esteem in the reign of heaven.” Here he quotes two from the last table, and one from the first, murder, adultery, and taking God’s name in vain. But in 22. ch. he includes the whole, love to God and love to our neighbor; “on these two hang all the law and the prophets.” In Luke 10:25-28, in answer to the question how to inherit eternal life, Jesus asks what is written in the law. The man quotes the words of Jesus in Matthew 22. He says, “thou hast answered right; this do, and live.” Now what law was it that these commandments, which are God’s law, sustained? Why, none other than the law of Moses. Then the law of God on tables of stone, and the law of Moses in a book, both laid in the ark together are two entire and distinct codes of laws; Deuteronomy 31:26. The testimony of God, Jesus Christ, David, Paul and James, is that the law of God is the ten commandments on tables of stone. God distinctly says the seventh day Sabbath is his commandment and his law. And there is not one passage in the Bible that shows that they were ever abolished. Then they are still in full force. And so John understood it in Revelation 14:12. (See Sabbath work, page 53, 54.) How advent believers, and especially teachers, can have the effrontery to disobey and contradict God on this clear doctrine, I know not. The leading ones seem to be very tenacious of every word of God, but this portion of truth is treated by them with as much malevolence and contempt as if it were some doctrine found in the Apocrypha. BP2 112.2

“Faith or testimony of Jesus;” Revelation 14:12. What is it? I understand it to be his teachings or testimony at his first advent, except the Revelation after his ascension. Are his commandments shown to be distinct from God? Yes. See John 13:34: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you that ye also love one another.” “If ye love me, keep my commandments;” 14:15 and 21 v. Again, “If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my father’s commandments and abide in his love;” 15:10. Think it is best to believe that Jesus kept the fourth commandment, or shall we say that he violated it and changed it, by giving the first day for the Sabbath, and leave the Bible and go to history for proof? BP2 113.1

“This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you;” 12th v. This, then, is the sum of Jesus’ commandments, viz. the “new” one in 13:34. This new, last, or eleventh commandment, is entirely confined to the true disciples of Jesus, while the ten commandments are to love God and all mankind. But Jesus has commanded us to believe in him and his disciples. True, but that is not called his commandment. (See his last testimony and instructions.) “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” (See work on the Sabbath, page 52 and 53.) Now it seems to me we can understand John in the text, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God (the ten that he wrote on tables of stone) and the faith of Jesus,” (what he taught his disciples, as in the above last instructions,) Matthew 28:19, 20. This was his testimony (see also Revelation 12:17). Says the reader, why did not the people “keep the commandments of God,” as in the text, before the fall of 1844? Because the message had not been presented, nor could not be until the third angel’s message (9th to 11th v.) had made this separation, for they could not keep the fourth commandment, the seventh day Sabbath, while they were united with the nominal church, (Babylon,) hence the separation. First, how did they understand or know any thing about this message? Answer - just as they understood the first, second and third messages in 14:6, 8 and 9 v. Rev. These messages ended as the seventh trumpet began to sound, which divided the virgins, as in the parable, and as in Hab. after the vision had spoke the truth and began to tarry. The soul of one party was lifted up and not upright, while the just would live by his faith,” 4th v. At the sounding of this seventh trumpet, John sees the “temple of God open in heaven. And there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” 11:19. Again in xvi.chap. he describes this same people rejoicing over the victory of the beast and his image. They were out of Babylon; standing by the sure word of prophecy, not in the air, for the 4th v. says all nations shall come, etc., (in the future,) and then says, “And after that, [above described,] I looked, and behold the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was open.” Here was the preparation for the marriage, and cleansing the sanctuary that was open on the “10th of the 7th month,” and the first message that issued on the commandments came from the presentation of the ark, which had never been described nor seen since the day that God drove Adam out of Paradise, and “placed cherubims and a flaming sword to keep the way of the tree of life.” This was the point of time that this message was urged on God’s people, to test their sincerity and honesty in the whole word of God and no where else in the previous messages. Sufficient proof of this will be found in the advent publications of 1845, when the subject was discussed, and S. Bliss, Jr., editor of the Herald said afterwards it was settled. Hence his alarm and immediate decision not to allow fourteen of my pamphlets on the Sabbath to have a resting place in this great book room (for the instruction of all people) long enough for any of the brethren who wanted them to take them without money and without price. And J. Jones, the organized Advent preacher of New York city, managed the thing so nicely, that a bundle which I sent him for those who wished to read, was (as I was informed,) burned up in the Post Office. If these men have such a strong desire to sustain Pope Gregory’s law for the change of the Sabbath, they had better hoist their flag on board the right ship. BP2 114.1

Our previous teaching and newspaper discussion with such kind of managing has had a tendency to check the progress of this divine message. But it will prevail over the Dragon and all his agencies; Revelation 12:17. For John saw the same company going into the gates of the city; 22:14. If it could be proved that there were ten thousand commandments, the eleven above cited must be kept to save God’s people, “for if you keep the whole and yet offend in one point, you are guilty of all;” James. BP2 115.1

While I have been writing, I have received the Voice of Truth, edited by Joseph Marsh, of Rochester, N. Y., dated April 28th, 1846. He here undertakes to demolish the Sabbath, with God’s whole code of laws, the ten commandments, and hide himself under grace. He asks seven questions, and makes eight objections; says he had had repeated calls to publish his views. He now sends out his extra copies F R E E for all that are troubled on the Sabbath question; and says this testimony should forever settle this very clear question. Where did the question arise? Principally in Deuteronomy 5:1-15. If I had space I should like very much to review every question and objection he has presented, seeing this is the first article against the Sabbath question since my work to sustain it last August. In the 47 - 49 pages, I presented him a number of objections which he does not answer, neither can he without overthrowing his sandy foundation, which we will look at. BP2 115.2

After quoting the first 15 verses of this fifth chapter of Deut., he begins back to the 3rd v. and says, “Keeping the Sabbath is embraced in this covenant made with the children of Israel at Hareb.” It was NOT made with their fathers [the Patriarchs] but with us, EVEN US who are all of U S HERE ALIVE T H I S D A Y. This testimony first negative, he made it not with our Fathers, and then positive but with us, is conclusive: it plainly tells for whom the Sabbath was not and then for whom it was instituted. It was instituted for the natural descendants of Abraham, the Jews according to the flesh. And not a single proof can be presented from either the Old or New Testament that it was instituted for any other people or nation.” What a wonderful discovery he has made in this 3rd verse! Why, he may find forty more texts to prove it, and no sane person would dispute it. I never heard of any doubts being expressed about this covenant being made with the children of Israel in Hareb. I should not wonder at all if time should continue a little, if he did not find out bye and bye, after he sees his true position, nigh even at the door, is untenable, that he will discover by the 13. ch. of Mark, that Peter, James, John and Andrew, were the only four Jews that Jesus revealed his coming and end of the world to, and consequently we can have nothing to do with the past, but vanish it out of sight, as he has been trying to the parable of the ten virgins for the last twelve months; when previous to that, his pen and paper was its constant advocate. While on this subject, let me give you an extract. Here it is: BP2 116.1

“If the Midnight Cry, as some suppose, is now being made, then the virgins are all asleep yet; for they did not rise from their sleep until ‘there was a cry made.’ Again: if, as some suppose, the cry will terminate only with ‘Christ’s appearing,’ then what time will the virgins have to cry for oil, receive instruction, and go to buy? Does not honesty require this should be answered in the light of truth and reason? We believe the virgins first went forth to meet the Bridegroom; THEN the TARRYING time commenced. IN that tarrying time, the [or a] cry WAS MADE. AFTER this, the virgins rose, and the Bridegroom came; and when he comes, THEN the tarrying time ends. We are either past this cry or it is ALL yet in the future. We believe we are PAST it, and it is our last sure land mark, that the coming of the Son of Man is at the door, and loudly admonishes us to watch every moment that we may be ready for that coming. Aside from this view, and the parable teaches nothing by which we may know when the coming of Christ is near.”—[Voice of Truth, June 11, 1845.] BP2 116.2

After working upon it seventeen months longer, he says: BP2 117.1

“At the coming of the Son of Man, shall the kingdom be likened unto ten virgins. This will at once destroy all the numerous FANCIED THEORIES which have been built upon the parable. O how blessed it is to know your feet rest upon the truth.” - [Nov.11,1846.] BP2 117.2

This is one of the two men that have been pointed out for our spiritual guides, by Father Miller. But to the text. He seems to think if he can prove here that if the Sabbath was included in this covenant, it never can apply to any other people. This covenant includes the ten commandments, and it would be just as honest for him to take out the seventh as the fourth, and say we may violate this commandment with impunity. He undertakes to prove by this that the Sabbath was never intended for any but the natural Jews. Jesus says it was made for man - the Jews are but a fragment of men. There is positive proof that it was established before this date, and was kept by Abraham; “because he kept my commandments, my statutes and my laws;” Genesis 26:5. The only commandment that was given in his day was the Sabbath with circumcision. BP2 117.3

If the Sabbath was not established at the creation of the world, it was no where. God rested the seventh day and sanctified it. For himself? No - for Jesus says it was made for man. Then here is the place. It was made for him. Did the natural seed of Abraham exist then? No, not for twenty-five hundred years after. Then Adam was the first to enjoy its blessings. Many days before the Jews saw Mount Hareb, where the Sabbath was re-enacted and the commandments given in the form of a statute, they were positively required to keep the Sabbath, and it was spoken of by Moses in as familiar a manner as we speak of it. “Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath;” Exodus 16:23-30. It was impossible for this information to come from Hareb, but from Paradise, for they had not yet “come to the mount.” The nine commandments they did not receive until they were incorporated with the Sabbath at Hareb. God said “Remember the Sabbath day,” what you have known before. If, as you say, God never instituted the Sabbath for any other than the Jews, can you tell who the stranger was among the Jews that God required to keep his Sabbath? You know there were Gentiles(!) included in the statute; See Exodus 20:10. Does the Lord tell them that they are to keep this Sabbath because the covenant was made with them? No. He gives an entire different reason. It is because he created the world in six, and rested the seventh day, and sanctified it, and not as you would have us believe, for the Jews only. Here are two points, then, that will destroy your positive assertions. You say, too, of Isaiah 56:2, 7, and 58:13, 14, not us, but those that were under the law. The stranger and the son of the stranger is the Gentile. How do you go to work to prove that part of the Gentiles are under the law, and a part the law has nothing to do with, for they are under grace? This is the tendency of your assertion. If these that are under the law have, as you say, fallen from grace, how does God make them joyful in his house of prayer? “That is for all people.” The covetous, the parsimonious, the slave-holders and vile oppressors, will be in perfect agreement with you on the 58th chapter. BP2 117.4

You say not a single proof can be presented from the old or New Testament that the Sabbath was instituted for any other people or nation. You are so ready to dispose of promises and blessings made under the law in the Old Testament to the carnal Jews, and claim the blessings for the Gentiles in the New, under grace, can you tell what law Jer. refers to, in his 31:32,32, which God was to make with the house of Israel, and put it in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts, which Paul to the Hebrews 8:9, 10, quotes in full? Will you tell Paul the Gentiles have nothing to do with it? Or is this what you call the law of the New Testament? If so, how many articles are there in the New Testament law? I say it was the law of God, the “ten commandments,” for he has given us no other law. If you have found a new one, you are bound to explain it, or who can know when they “fail in one point?” If the law is as indefinite as you make it, it would amount to almost an impossibility for any person to understand it. BP2 118.1

The law of God, the ten commandments, and the law of Moses, are two distinct separate codes. (See work on the Sabbath, 20-24 page.) The Gentiles receiving the Gospel as a free gift, is (as I understand) being under grace, and as much bound by God’s code of laws on the heart, as the Israelites when they had them engraven on stone. In the 24th Matthew Jesus certainly pointed to T H E Sabbath at least 36 years after the Jews’ Sabbaths were nailed to the cross. (See W. on the S., 12-19 page; for the Sabbath also, 29th and 48th page.) We certainly know that this included the Gentiles, because before that Sabbath came, Paul said, “the Gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven,” A. D. 64; Colossians 1:23. Then certainly, if not before, every nation had the Sabbath, or else there was only one Sabbath for the city of Jerusalem. In A. D. 70, you also say, “one day is no better than another; that Christ made no distinction and the apostle enjoined none.” What do you make of the above in Matthew 24:20? Does not Jesus say also that he kept his father’s commandments? Was not the Sabbath included? See also Mark 6:2, and Luke 4:16, 31. Luke says it was his custom to teach on the Sabbath days. It cannot be proved that he ever violated the Sabbath. This would make him utter an untruth. See John 15:10. (See W. on the S. page 41-43.) Luke says it was Paul’s manner to preach on the Sabbath; Acts 17:2. Chap. 18:4, 11, is proof of 78 in succession. He had no other stated day, but once he preached in the evening of the 1st day, and broke bread by appointment. It is very singular that Christ, and the apostle, should be continually enforcing the commandments with the keeping the Sabbath, by precept and example, and yet violate them by making as you say, no distinction. Why do you keep quoting that “the Sabbath was made for man,” when your whole aim and object is to prove there is none for him, since, as according to your logic, the generation of the Jews has passed away. If generations are to be disposed of according to dispensations, I should not wonder in the least if a new exposition of Matthew 24:34, would not soon be issued in your paper to take the place of, or be coupled with, “nigh even at the door.” What if you should examine Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and find in their statement of the signs that were to precede the coming of the Savior, that the shaking of the powers of heaven (which you say is in the future) is connected with the falling stars and darkened sun, would you be able to show how to get “nigh even at the door,” between them, when the Savior tells us that when we see these, all these things come to pass, then we many know” (not before). After the last sign it reads, “And then;” showing conclusively that we may not apply the parable until this sign, the powers of the heavens are shaken, is seen. If we may, then it can also be applied from the darkening of the sun. BP2 118.2

You say the commandments are abolished, and yet they are all in full force except the 4th, the Sabbath, and are incorporated into the New Testament, the law of Christ, and in full force now. I confess for one that such reasoning to me is utter confusion. I have read something like this before, but it is as incomprehensible as it would be for me to understand how a citizen of these United States could be punished with death for violating the constitution of his country, 1800 years after congress had abolished it. The whole scope and meaning of your argument (if I can understand you) is to get God’s Sabbath out of the way! God has not made his laws so inexplicable - no, no! You say they were nailed to the cross.” Why, then, did his disciples, “keep the Sabbath according to the commandment,“ afterwards; Luke 23:54-56. If they kept the next day too, as you pretend we should, then there were two Sabbaths in succession, Saturday and Sunday. What do you do with Paul, who 25 years after this abolition, exhorts the Ephesians to a strict observance of the fifth commandment, 6:1-3. Would you tell him, as you do us, that he had better be careful lest he disinherit himself, for he had once abolished the whole code in his letter to the Colossians 2:14-17. Would you also cite him to 2 Corinthians 3-15, as you do us? All that he has shown abolished there is the glory of Moses’ countenance with the vail (see S, W. pages 13-19.) You call them shadows; yes, if the Sabbath is a shadow so is all the rest. How do you think the murderer, the adulterer, and the thief would plead under your exposition of the commandments? I suppose just as you do for violating the Sabbath - say they were nothing but shadows. You know that the appeal is direct to the precept or chaotic confusion would soon follow. You seem to be afraid that we should observe days. If there is no Sabbath, why do you observe days, and call the first day the Sabbath, and attempt to prove it the Lord’s day, because John was in the spirit on the Lord’s day? Revelation 1:10. Has not Jesus said that he is the “Lord of the Sabbath?” Then you must see that the Lord’s day is the seventh, and not the first day of the week. And does not the commandment say, the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, etc. God’s truth requires plainness of speech. I think your argument or attempt to destroy God’s Sabbath and commandments, is a piece of Popish sophistry, calculated to lead God’s children astray, for it has no foundation in scripture.. The editor of the Advent Herald is in perfect agreement with you about the abolition of the Sabbath. “They that forsake the law praise the wicked;” Proverbs 28:4. S. S. Snow and followers preach the same doctrine; and yet God’s children are to be saved, if at all, by doing or keeping the commandments. What shall we do? listen to your infidel teachings and steer direct for the great maelstrom? No, no. We raise the note of warning and cry, to your watch towers, O Israel! and keep your eyes upon the “treacherous dealers.” S. S. Snow declares that he is the prophet Elijah! the restorer of the law. How can that be, when he and his followers are living in open violation of the law? desecrating the holy Sabbath of the Lord, how clear it is that their course will prove a perfect failure. The Bible Advocate of Hartford, Ct., counts “the great things of God’s law as a strange thing;” Hosea 8:12. While they trample down the law of God, their prayers are an abomination to God; see Proverbs 18:9. BP2 120.1

Here comes another from Ct.: - BABYLON THE GREAT IS FALLEN. That’s our fourth way mark, and is 30 months in the past. The little flock have long since responded to that call. Tell God’s people that their appointed time has come; Isaiah 40:1 - for “here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” God has no employment for false prophets and false messengers, that violate his commandments and laws.” Look at some more of them: Exodus 16:28, 30; Isaiah 23:5, 48:18; Psalm 111:7-10: Romans 7:12; Ecclesiastes 12:13; Revelation 22:14. See also W. on the S. page 53,54. BP2 121.1