05/31/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1LwpRu6vkT/
Overcoming Obstacles
Promotion Of Brother S. P. Etter
“To Live Is Christ, and to Die Is Gain”
Page 381 in the “Signs and Wonders” book
“The decease of Mr. S. P. Etter, August 16, 1914, marked the end of the three years of suffering and the liberation of the spirit from its tenement of clay at the ripe age of nearly 72 years. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. M. B. Woodworth-Etter, and by two of his daughters, Mrs. J. P. Begg, Birmingham, Alabama, and Mrs. Ida Eddy, Hot Springs, Arkansas. At the time of his death, Sister Etter, to whom he was joined in marriage a little over 13 years ago, was conducting a camp meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At his urgent request she had continued in the field where she carried both the burden of the work and the load of anxiety for his welfare.
She was hurriedly summoned home to Indianapolis, where she laid him away, and then went back to carry on the Philadelphia campaign. Witnesses have testified in Chicago of the marvelous fortitude and grace with which she went through this trial and never faltered at her post. Ever since their marriage, Mr. Etter has stood by the side of his wife in doing evangelistic work. He was brave, never faltering from duty, always ready for every emergency, doing hard manual labor as well as exhorting sinners to repent.
The Lord wonderfully used him in singing at revivals, also in praying for the sick. Even after he had been taken sick, he united with his wife in praying over and anointing hundreds of handkerchiefs. Testimony after testimony came back from the people who praised God for deliverance. At the Dallas, Texas, meeting he was stricken with tuberculosis of the bone and stomach. He soon became helpless and had to be carried from place to place. The calls for labor were so many and urgent that they traveled under those unfavorable conditions over eleven thousand miles preaching the gospel, holding three meetings a day. They went practically all over the United States. Many times when Mrs. Etter went to the meeting after kissing him goodbye, she did not know whether she would find him alive when she returned. This was especially true in the meeting held in Atlanta, Georgia, from March 8 to May 10, 1914.
As the weather got warmer, he had a desire to get home and rest for a while, expecting that God would before long either deliver him entirely or take him home to glory. They reached home towards the end of May. He enjoyed his little home very much and had perfect victory in his soul.
Sister Etter had a great desire to be with him till the last, but together they had promised the saints at Petoskey, Michigan, and also at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to hold meetings for them. When time arrived to leave, he burst forth in strong exhortation urging through it all to be brave and courageous in the Lord’s work, that the Lord’s coming was drawing nigh.
When out of the house his last words heard by his wife were these: “Go forward, God speed you on.” She trusted that God would spare him till she got back again, but felt perfectly resolved to God’s will.
Soon after the meeting in Philadelphia started, he showed signs that God would take him to rest before long. When asked whether Mrs. Etter should stop the work and come home, he said, “No, she must go on till the meeting closes at the end of the month.”
Later on his nurse perceived that he was sinking rapidly. A message was sent for his wife to come home at once. She took a fast train immediately, but before she could reach his bedside, he had passed to glory. He died peaceful and happy on the afternoon of Sunday, August 16, 1914.
(This is interesting as I read this, that Maria’s 5 children all died at an early age from a type of Tuberculosis. Her first born Lizzie had a touch of it but lived, Maria’s only Daughter- Lizzie) The picture below of the grave marker of Samuel P. Etter.
(I don’t of a picture of Mr. Etter or Mr. Woodworth, if anyone comes across a photo of either one please let me know, I will even buy it from you.)
