1950 . . .
The General Conference Committee received the manuscript, 1888 Re-examined, a 204-page document based upon the writings of Ellen White. It was not well received by church leaders. Nonetheless by 1958 queries from the field had reached the place where it was evident that the reply of seven years previously did not close the issue. To answer concerns of church members, the Secretary of the White Estate in September 1958 prepared a 49-page reply, “Further Appraisal of the Manuscript ‘1888 Re-examined.’” This document should be carefully analyzed to understand the methods of analysis used. In an endeavor to prove the 1888 message was “accepted” and that Minneapolis was really a great victory, the following words of Ellen White are cited in this “Appraisal”:
“We stood on the field of battle for nearly three years, but at that time decided changes took place among our people, and through the grace of God we gained decided victories” (Letter 40, 1893).
When this treatise was prepared, the White Estate vault was closed to general access and only special approval allowed 1888 material to be released. But in 1983 Manuscript Release no. 996 was made available giving the full source of this quotation. This is now in Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, p. 339. It demonstrates that it deals with health reform. (The original source: 1888 Materials, p. 1208.)
This quotation has nothing to do with Minneapolis history and is misleading the way it is used. It was repeated by LeRoy E. Froom in Movement of Destiny, page 606, to show that Ellen White “rejoiced in the growing acceptance” of the 1888 message. This defies all she had written about it—as now attested in those 1821 pages.
(Quoted from article: "Do We Love the Truth About "1888"? by Donald K. Short, September / October 2004).