The History of
the 1888 Message?

The Common Denominator of All History

There is a significant factor that is a common denominator in Israel’s ancient history and in our denominational history. This is the reality of man’s basic "enmity against God"24 which is evident even among religious people like those who murdered the Prince of Life.25 This is always the essence of sin, and it is demonstrated all through Israel’s history. When the "leading men among the Israelites" at Kadesh-Barnea rejected the appeal of Caleb and Joshua, "the Lord said to Moses, ‘How much longer will this people treat Me with contempt’?"26 Israel’s constant tendency was "to deride the messengers, scorn His words and scoff at His prophets"27 until their "enmity" finally blossomed into ultimate expression in crucifying the Son of God. This same enmity is demonstrated in our own denominational history!

Had Ellen White not rescued the 1888 "explorers" from their opponents, they would have suffered the modern equivalent of the fate that threatened Caleb and Joshua by "the leading men among the Israelites." As A.W. Spalding says, "The preaching of Waggoner and Jones was trying to some of the older men in the cause … [and] seemed to them like treason." There was "personal pique at the messengers," and a "tumult of clerical passions … let loose." But Ellen White intervened and "championed" the cause of the two young messengers, "and it was chiefly this support, indeed, which won for it the hearts of the people."28 Modern Israel’s opportunity to enter the "Promised Land" of the Loud Cry was as decidedly rebuffed as ancient Israel’s at Kadesh-Barnea. Speaking eight years later "of the opposition manifested at Minneapolis against the Lord’s message through Brethren [E.J.] Waggoner and [A.T.] Jones," Mrs. White declared unequivocally that

Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them. The enemy prevented them from obtaining that efficiency which might have been theirs in carrying the truth to the world, as the apostles proclaimed it after the day of Pentecost. The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren [the "leading men"] has been in a great degree kept away from the world.29

Until quite recently, the standard view maintained by our official publications has been that our "leading men" gladly received the 1888 message and that the entire episode of our history is one we can rejoice over as a definite "plus." We have fulfilled precisely our Lord’s prediction of us as it is in the original Greek: "Thou sayest, Rich I am and I have been enriched."30 The concurrence of our historians’ view with the idle boast of Laodicea is so striking that we note a few examples:

The General Conference at Minneapolis … in 1888 is a notable landmark in Seventh-day Adventist history. … It stands out as a glorious victory. …

… The final outcome was good.… The Lord gave His people a marvelous victory.

… It marked the beginning of a new era of spiritual awakening and growth.

It was really at the General Conference session of 1893 that light on justification by faith seemed to gain its greatest victory. …

… The aftereffect of the great Minneapolis revival was … rich in both holiness and mission fruitage.31

The last decade of the century saw the church developing, through this 1888 gospel, into a company prepared to fulfill the mission of God.32

The rank and file of Seventh-day Adventist workers and laity accepted the presentations at Minneapolis and were blessed.33

Does this mean that the church as a whole, or even its leadership, rejected the 1888 message? Not at all. Some rejected it—a vocal minority. Others accepted it gladly. Others were at first confused, but soon accepted it. … The new leadership wholeheartedly endorsed the new emphasis.34

In fact, the strongest assertions of "acceptance" and "victory" ever published appear in the volumes, Through Crisis to Victory 1888-1901, by A.V. Olson, and Movement of Destiny, by L.E. Froom.35 But there is inconsistency in maintaining on the one hand, as Froom does, that the 1888 message was the beginning of the Loud Cry and being forced on the other hand to recognize that many decades of inexplicable delay have followed.

The candid reader soon recognizes that something somewhere must have gone drastically wrong. Where Ellen White said, "Satan succeeded … in a great measure," these historians say we enjoyed "a glorious victory." We must distinguish between Satan and Christ.

The Background of the 1888 Message

NOTES:

24. Rom. 8:7. [Return to text]
25. Compare Acts 3:14,15; 1 Cor. 2:7, 8; Rom. 3:19; TM 38. [Return to text]
26. Num. 14:11, NEB. [Return to text]
27. 2 Chron. 36:16, NEB. [Return to text]
28. A.W. Spalding, op. cit., pp. 291, 293, 295, 297. [Return to text]
29. 1SM 234, 235. [Return to text]
30. Literal Greek of Rev. 317, legeis hoti plousios eimi kai peplouteka, "I have been enriched" or "I have become rich". [Return to text]
31. Christian, op. cit., 219, 223, 225, 237, 241, 245. [Return to text]
32. Spalding, op. cit., p. 303. [Return to text]
33. "Second General Conference Report," pp. 7, 11. [Return to text]
34. Marjorie Lewis Lloyd, Too Slow Getting Off, pp. 19, 20. [Return to text]
35. See Olson, pp. 7, 233-239, (the ministry has accepted and preached the message with power—the laity hold back.); see Froom, MD 357-374, 445, etc. [Return to text]