This position the Adventists had almost entirely abandoned during the 1860s and 1870s; the 'schoolmaster' was reinterpreted to mean the ceremonial and sacrificial laws of Moses which pointed forward to the Messiah. This reinterpretation had developed largely as a reaction to Protestant clergymen who interpreted Paul's statement in Galatians 3:25 ('we are no longer under the schoolmaster') to mean that the Ten Commandment law had been abrogated; thus, the seventh-day Sabbath was no longer viable." Ellen White initially saw the conflict as a small diversionary topic but quickly realized the danger and that it was counter-productive to the real issue of the fulfillment of Adventist message of Christ's return and moved to resolve the uncomfortable situation. Thus we find these two main points of contention facing the delegates at Minneapolis: justification is by faith not by works, and the semi-Arian view of the Godhead and its effect on the doctrine of the atonement. Prior to the 1888 Minneapolis conference a third topic of contention developed between Uriah Smith and A.T. Jones. Jones was an avid student of history, especially as it applied to the prophecies of the Bible. He had discovered that the Alemanni and not the Huns were one of the ten horns (tribes or nations) described prophetically in Daniel 7. Smith took grave exception to this new view, relying on the traditional position of the Millerites to support his position. "Jones was accordingly regarded by some as the fosterer of a new historical 'heresy,' while Waggoner was thought to be projecting a doctrinal deviation — which departures would have to be settled at the Minneapolis Meeting." Preconceived opinions and strong prejudice were firmly entrenched due to the previous two years' contentions between Waggoner and Butler, and Jones and Smith. Prior to the actual General Conference session, a Bible Institute was convened beginning on Wednesday Oct. 10, 1888. The General Conference session began on Oct. 18 and ran through more than two full weeks, ending on Sunday Nov. 4, 1888. It was during the Bible Institute that A.T. Jones delivered his evidence supporting the idea that the Alemanni were one of the ten horns of prophecy that succeeded the crumbling Roman Empire. "Jones had done his homework well. No one was able effectively to dispute the historical evidence he cited in favor of the Alemanni's right to supplant the Huns as one of the kingdoms succeeding Rome. Uriah Smith, Adventism's most noted prophetic expositor, was placed on the defensive.