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Daughters of God
being uncertain as to how to deal with these four letters, laid them
aside, and did not place them in the regular file. Since then, some
have suggested that the White Estate should have burned the letters,
in harmony with Ellen White’s original request. But others have felt
that the letters should be preserved, for two reasons: 1. The situation
confronting the White Estate is different from that which faced Lucinda
Hall. Lucinda was the one who was asked to burn the letters. Since
she did not, the White Estate board must consider the request in the
light of its own situation. Critics might accuse the Estate of destroying
not merely these letters, but other correspondence and manuscripts; (2)
the account of how Ellen White related to an extremely difficult time
in her life could be of help to individuals facing similar circumstances
today
.
Because many are aware of the situation in the White family that
Ellen White was wrestling with at the time, and with the hope that
others facing similar circumstances today may find encouragement
from them, the letters, with adequate background to help understand
them, are herewith being made available
.
The Setting of the Letters
Anyone who has dealt with stroke victims can identify with Ellen
White when she wrote, “I have not lost my love for my husband, but
I cannot explain things.”—
Letter 67, 1876
. A week earlier she had
written, “I can but dread the liability of James’ changeable moods.”
[265]
—
Letter 64, 1876
. The change in personality exhibited by James White
in the years after 1865, during which he experienced several strokes,
was very difficult for his wife and associates to understand.
Before his illness, James White was a dynamic and forceful leader.
But after his strokes, he experienced serious personality changes. From
time to time he seemed much like his former self, but often he was
suspicious and demanding. Such was the situation Ellen White was
facing at the time she wrote these four letters to Lucinda
.
Never one to mince words, James White frequently expressed
himself forcefully. In his autobiography he wrote about a man who
had criticized him:
“To see a coarse, hard-hearted man, possessing in his very nature
but little more tenderness than a crocodile, and nearly as destitute of