II. By Personal Letters
Only a part of the messages could be delivered orally. Most of them must be set forth in writing, as it was not possible for Mrs. White to see personally all to whom the messages must be conveyed. Then, too, it was desirable to have a record of the message presented. The writing was done by hand. Painstakingly she wrote, page after page, presenting the views given her and conveying the instruction, cautions, encouragement, and warnings imparted to her for others. Usually several copies were then made by a secretary.EGWMR 12.6
To those for whom she had been entrusted with a personal message, the word was sent by a carefully written personal letter. These letters often, but not always, opened with such expressions as, “I am instructed to say to you,” or “I am commissioned to give you a message.” Prayerfully Mrs. White selected winsome words which would convey the important message from Heaven, that it might do its appointed work and save a soul from a wrong course of action. Usually the communication was sent at once to the person addressed, but there were times when she was divinely instructed to hold the communication until circumstances developed, and then she was permitted or bidden to hasten it on its way.EGWMR 12.7
Not always could the full message be presented in the first letter. Ellen White well knew that when one is in error he is under the influence of the powers of evil, and it is not easy to receive reproof. On not a few occasions we find that she wrote four, six, ten, or twelve letters—spacing them a day or two apart. In the first she gave what encouragement she could, opening the way for what would follow. Then succeeding communications went deeper and deeper into the subject until it was all presented in its fullness and in its penetrating strength.EGWMR 12.8
Some situations were of such a character that Mrs. White dared not send the message by mail directly to the person involved, for she knew it would be very hard for the one to accept the message. Some trustworthy individual of experience and ability would at such times be asked to read the message to the person addressed. In this way there would be opportunity for united prayer, conversation, and brotherly help. Speaking of her practice in this line, she wrote in 1903:EGWMR 13.1
“Sometimes when I receive a testimony for someone who is in danger, who is being deceived by the enemy, I am instructed that I am not to place it in his hands, but to give it to someone else to read to him, because, being deceived by the insinuations of Satan, he would read the testimony in the light of his own desires, and to him its meaning would be perverted.”—E. G. White Manuscript 71, 1903.EGWMR 13.2
Then there were the letters to be written to those she had seen personally, and who asked that she record what she had related to them. This added very greatly to her burdens; yet she did not refuse such reasonable requests. Speaking of this in 1868, James White said:EGWMR 13.3
“We wish to say to those friends who have requested Mrs. White to write out personal testimonies, that in this branch of her labor she has about two months’ work in hand. On our eastern tour she improved all her spare time in writing such testimonies. She even wrote many of them in meeting while others were preaching.”—Review, and Herald, March 3, 1868.EGWMR 13.4
“Write, write, write, I feel that I must and not delay,” she penned in 1884. (Letter 11, 1884.) Only a part of this writing could be done at home, for much of the time she traveled, and we find her employing every spare moment writing—on shipboard, at the homes of friends, on the train, and at times in meetings while others spoke. Of necessity she had learned to concentrate on her work and often labored under varied and difficult circumstances.EGWMR 13.5