Was Lying at Death’s Door—The Undertaker Was Sent—A Season of Earnest Prayer, and Immediate Return to Health
By DAVID PAULSON, M. D.
Elder R. A. Underwood, whose experience is related in the following article, is a veteran minister of the gospel. He is a plain, matter-of-fact, practical person, and is not given to excitement in the least. His word is taken at par wherever he is known. Therefore his experience, as he told it to Dr. Paulson, is most encouraging indeed, because of the reliability of the source.
Editor.
WHEN I was at the recent Missouri camp meeting, Brother R. A. Underwood told me about a severe illness in early life, and of the inspiring and immediate response to the prayer of two humble but earnest workers who knelt at his bedside in that critical hour. Believing that the account of this incident will be as helpful and encouraging to many others as it was to me personally, I am taking the responsibility of passing it on to the large circle of SIGNS readers just as he told it to me.
PUZZLED PHYSICIANS CONSULT
“It was away back in 1873. Shortly after being exposed to measles, I was out all day in a terribly cold blizzard. I was just then breaking out, and I became so thoroughly chilled that before night I was suffering from a severe cold, and the measles had struck in, and I became deathly sick. In about two weeks’ time, I was so low that I could only speak in whispers. When my bed had to be changed, I was carefully lifted out by two men.
“A little later, I began to suffer the most excruciating pain across the small of my back, and a spot about as large as my hand turned black. The physician who had my case in charge believed that mortification was about to set in. Three physicians were called in counsel, and none of them held out any hope for my recovery.
TOLD THE UNDERTAKER TO COME
“Miss Reynolds, to whom I was engaged to be married, had been with me for two weeks, assisting constantly in my care. Brother Sanford Rogers was the elder of the church to which I belonged, and he also had come in to help care for me. Finally I failed so rapidly that the doctor told Miss Reynolds and the members of the family that if they wished to say anything to me, they better say it without delay, and that as he returned to the village, he would tell the undertaker to come out to the house to lay me out, because I could not possibly live over two hours at the most.”
“I’VE GOT HIM”
“Immediately after the doctor left my room, I seemed to see, standing at the foot of my bed, a tall personage whose features in every way showed marked intelligence, but with a keen, shrewd eye that would almost pierce you through. With a sort of hellish grin, he pointed to me, and said, ‘I’ve got him.’ The impression made on my mind was that this was the devil contending for my life.
“Standing about three feet nearer to me, at the side of my bed, was another being, the most beautiful I have ever beheld. With a wave of his hand, he seemed to be warning away the one standing at the foot of the bed, and said, ‘Not so sure!’
“As I had given my heart to God, I was not afraid to die, but the impression was left on my mind that in some way the devil would triumph if I did die. When this being at my bedside made the wave of his hand, the whole scene passed from my vision. As far as I know, I was in my right mind. I was not asleep; it was not a dream.”
“YOU WILL NOT BE WITH US LONG”
“Miss Reynolds, having heard what the doctor said, came in directly and knelt by my bedside. In a whisper she said to me, ‘Rufus, do you know how sick you are?’ In a low whisper I said, ‘Yes.’ Miss Reynolds continued, ‘I feel you will not be with us long.’ I answered in a whisper, ‘A very short time, unless God heals at once.’ Then I said, ‘Ellen, have you any faith?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ Then I asked her to call in Brother Rogers to join her in prayer for my recovery.
“She went to the door and called him. He replied he would be there in a few minutes. She said, ‘Don’t wait, for in a few minutes it may be too late.’ He came running, thinking that I was dying, and then she told him that I had requested that they pray for my healing, and also told him that the doctor said I could live only two hours.”
TOUCHED WITH HEALING POWER
“They both bowed at my bedside. I shall never forget Brother Rogers’s brief prayer. He asked, in substance, that if it could please God and glorify His name, the angel of the Lord might touch me that instant with healing power. No sooner had those words been spoken than the pain that was then so severe, as if it was cutting me in two, ceased instantly, and a thrill of power went through590my being. I rose to a sitting posture in the bed, and with a clear voice said, ‘Praise God, I shall live, and not die.’ Brother Rogers closed his prayer with a word of thanksgiving. Then Miss Reynolds began to pray that the Lord might heal me. I said: ‘Ellen, do not ask the Lord to do what He has already done. Just thank Him for it.’
“I had not slept a moment for nearly three days. I had apparently been in the very agonies of death; but now I said to Miss Reynolds: ‘I am all right now. God has healed me, and all I desire is to be left alone so that I may sleep. I would like to rest.’”
“Within half an hour, the village undertaker, accompanied by another man, came to lay me out, as the doctor had informed them that I would be dead by the time they reached the house. Miss Reynolds told him, as he came in, that I was better, and that she did not think he would be needed; but he insisted on staying, and said he would look after me.”
“IT BEATS THE DEVIL”
“I persuaded Miss Reynolds to retire, as she had lost much sleep. About midnight, her anxiety led her to come down to see how I was getting along. She asked the undertaker, ‘How is Mr. Underwood?’ I shall never forget his remark. He was a profane man, and he said: ‘Miss Reynolds, it beats the devil. I came here to lay this man out, and he just gets up and helps himself. When I watched over him a week ago, he couldn’t help himself in the least.’ Miss Reynolds remarked: ‘It has beat the devil. Mr. Underwood has been healed.’”
EFFECTUAL FERVENT PRAYER
The Bible recognizes various remedial agencies, such as baths in the case of Naaman, fig poultice for Hezekiah, clay ointment and hydrotherapy for a certain blind man whom Christ met, regulation of diet for Timothy; but it also recognizes the prayer remedy, and assures us that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16.
And whenever we are brought face to face with sickness and suffering, we should feel it a privilege, no matter what else is done for the patient, to commit the case to the care of the great Healer of both soul and body.
“We are to be guided by true theology and common sense. Our souls are to be surrounded by the atmosphere of heaven. Men and women are to watch themselves; they are to be constantly on guard, allowing no word or act that would cause their good to be evil spoken of.”
