-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- At the McDearmon Home
- The Plano Camp Meeting
- The Fluctuating Plans of James and Ellen White
- Working at Home in Denison, Texas
- Miss Marian Davis Joins the White Forces
- The Home Situation
- Outreach in Missionary Endeavor
- Evangelism in Nearby Communities
- Texas, a Needy Field of Labor
- Preparing for the Exodus from Texas
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- A New President for Battle Creek College
- The College Problems Enumerated
- New Schools in the East and the West
- The Healdsburg School
- Ellen White Finds a Home Base
- The Battle Creek Church, Uriah Smith, and the Testimonies
- The Fourth of July Picnic
- The E. G. White Home in the Town of Healdsburg
- Healed at the Camp Meeting
-
- Early Writings of Ellen G. White
- New Year's Day, 1883
- Holiday Articles in the Review and Signs
- Practical Gift Suggestions
- Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4
- Instructed to Trace the History of the Controversy
- Chapters Published in Signs of the Times
- The Relation of Ellen White's Articles to D'Aubigne
- Sketches from the Life of Paul
- The Call for an Ellen G. White Lesson Help
- Testimonies for the Church, Volumes 1 to 4
- The General Conference on Record Regarding Inspiration
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- The Meetings in Sweden
- The Conference Session
- The Two Weeks in Christiania
- Dealing Carefully and Firmly with the Church Situation
- The Week in Denmark
- The European Missionary Council
- The Week-Long Council Meeting
- Evangelistic Labor in Nimes, France
- The Visit to the Watch Factory
- The Third Visit to Italy
-
- News of D. M. Canright's Final Defection
- Writing Letters and Preparing Book Manuscript
- Visit to Zurich
- Starting on the Long Journey Home
- Meetings at Vohwinkel
- The Meetings in Copenhagen
- First European Camp Meeting at Moss, Norway
- The Fifth Session of the European Council
- The Well-Attended Meetings in Sweden
- On to the British Mission
- The Illness of Mary K. White
- Across the Atlantic on the City of Rome
-
-
-
- The Law in Galatians at Last Introduced
- Satan's Diverting Strategy
- The Landmarks and the Pillars
- Ellen White's Objective
- A Heart-Searching Appeal
- The Conference Session Closes on the Upbeat
- W. C. White's Appraisal
- W. C. White Acting General Conference President
- The Story that Contemporary Records Tell
- Righteousness by Faith Defined
- A Personal and Frail Experience
-
- Her Resume of Labors Through 1889
- Michigan State Meeting at Potterville
- Ellen White's Sixty-First Birthday
- The Remarkable Revival in Battle Creek
- The Revival at South Lancaster
- Revivals Across the Land
- The Williamsport Camp Meeting
- The 1889 General Conference Session
- E. G. White Review Articles Tell The Story
-
- Attention Turned to the Great Controversy
- An Enlightening Experience
- Experience in Europe Benefited the Book
- Enlargement of Chapter on Huss
- Deletion of Materials Especially Intended for Adventists
- The Great Controversy Finished at Healdsburg
- Materials Quoted from Historians
- Patriarchs and Prophets
- Life Sketches of James and Ellen G. White
- Testimonies for the Church,
- Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene
-
- Consolidation of Denominational Interests
- Opening the Way for the Enemy to Control
- Reading and Working in Battle Creek
- Schools for Ministers
- Early-Morning Devotionals Drew Large Attendance
- Ellen White's Bold Testimony Bears Fruit
- The Backbone of Rebellion Broken
- The Spirit of Prophecy the Real Issue
- A Statement Clarifying Issues
- What is the Evidence?
-
-
- The 1891 General Conference Session
- Religious Interest at a High Point
- References to the Salamanca Vision
- Instructed to Tell what She Saw at Salamanca
- Ellen White's Report
- An Abundance of Testimony
- The Experience Brought Unity
- General Conference Business
- Uriah Smith's Spirit of Prophecy Sermon
- Ellen White Asks for Time
- The Question of Consolidation
- Cheering, Positive Attitudes
- Ellen G. White Following the Session
- Ellen White Shared in Carriage Accident
- To Go or Not To Go
-
Chapter 31—(1888) Minneapolis and Its Diverse Fruits
As we focus on Ellen White at the General Conference session of 1888 we will draw heavily from a retrospective statement she wrote within a few weeks of the meeting. There had been time for observation and reflection, and it was less difficult to put events in their proper perspective. Her manuscript of twenty-six pages bears the title “Looking Back at Minneapolis.”3BIO 398.1
“This was a season of refreshing to many souls,” she wrote near the opening of this review, “but it did not abide upon some.”—Selected Messages 3:164. She declared later in the statement: “My burden during the meeting was to present Jesus and His love before my brethren, for I saw marked evidences that many had not the Spirit of Christ.”—Manuscript 24, 1888 (see also Ibid., 3:171). She added: “My heart was pained to see the spirit that controlled some of our ministering brethren, and this spirit seemed to be contagious.”—Ibid.3BIO 398.2
Forty years earlier Ellen White had been present when doctrinal matters were studied by those who were pioneering the work of the church. As she wrote of this in 1892, she recalled:3BIO 398.3
We would come together burdened in soul, praying that we might be one in faith and doctrine; for we knew that Christ is not divided. One point at a time was made the subject of investigation. Solemnity characterized these counsels of investigation. The Scriptures were opened with a sense of awe. Often we fasted, that we might be better fitted to understand the truth.3BIO 398.4
After earnest prayer, if any point was not understood, it was discussed, and each one expressed his opinion freely; then we would again bow in prayer, and earnest supplications went up to heaven that God would help us to see eye to eye, that we might be one, as Christ and the Father are one....3BIO 398.5
We sought most earnestly that the Scriptures should not be wrested to suit any man's opinions. We tried to make our differences as slight as possible by not dwelling on points that were of minor importance, upon which there were varying opinions. But the burden of every soul was to bring about a condition among the brethren which would answer the prayer of Christ that His disciples might be one as He and the Father are one.—The Review and Herald, July 26, 1892. (Italics supplied. See also Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 24, 25.)3BIO 399.1
But this was not the case at Minneapolis. Those there did not try to make their differences “as slight as possible.” For two years the issue of the law in Galatians had smoldered, and when it was taken up, bitterness and accusations were unleashed.3BIO 399.2
The focal point was verse 24 of chapter 3, which reads: “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” There was no argument among Seventh-day Adventists concerning the believer's being justified by faith, although this vital truth was sadly neglected at the time. In 1888 the sharp difference of opinion, as when J. H. Waggoner wrote on the subject in 1854, was whether the law brought to view as the schoolmaster was the moral or the ceremonial law. Thus two issues were bound up in a study of “the law and the gospel” in such a way that if one topic suffered in bitter debate, both were affected. The great adversary took advantage of this.3BIO 399.3
To complicate matters, the discussion of the law in Galatians followed close on the heels of the bitter and extended debate over the Huns and the Alemanni, with key workers taking sides and reacting strongly.3BIO 399.4