IX. Sabbath Draws Strength From Sanctuary Setting

Although the seventh-day Sabbath came to the attention of a group of Adventists through the Seventh Day Baptists, it was the light on the sanctuary and the prophecy of Daniel 7:25 coupled with that of Revelation 14:9-12 that invested it with a significance and an importance that the Sabbath had never had under the Seventh Day Baptists. They had long held that all the Ten Commandments are moral, not ceremonial; that they are unchangeable, being a revelation of the character of God; and that the change of the Sabbath was made by the papal church without authorization from God. Their position in this was impregnable. But Mrs. Preston, in Washington, New Hampshire, simply urging the claim of the unchanged seventh-day Sabbath, did not have much initial success. Only in the sanctuary setting did it begin to grip hearts. The belief that men were living in the judgment hour, and were to be judged by the great unchanged standard of the judgment, with the coming of Christ drawing near, drove home the conviction that the Lord was calling men to obey all of His commandments.PFF4 960.1

The incident of the conference at Edson’s home needs to be borne in mind. When Bates arrived he was asked to take the opening service. After Edson had grasped the larger principle of the sanctuary service, he had already become aware, solely from his study of the sanctuary, the most holy place, and the ark, that the seventh day was doubtless the Sabbath. But he did not sense its significance or importance. Then Bates, after opening the service, began to unfold the Sabbath truth with the logical clarity for which he was noted. Edson was so impressed and delighted that he could scarcely restrain himself from responding openly to this epochal discourse on the Sabbath until Bates finished. It will be remembered that as soon as Bates had completed his presentation Edson was on his feet exclaiming, “Brother Bates, that is light and truth! The seventh day is the Sabbath, and I am with you to keep it.” ^{32Ms., “Hiram Edson’s Experience, as Related to P. Z. Kinne,” quoted in Spicer, Pioneer Days, p. 83.} Thus the connection was made between the Sabbath message and the sanctuary message, which from that time forward were increasingly and inseparably associated.PFF4 960.2