The Raising of a New Zealand Saint from the Dead

During his service in New Zealand, Matthew Cowley was called to a home in a small village where Relief Society sisters were preparing the body of a recently deceased Latter-day Saint. The body had been placed in front of a 'big house'—a structure used by the local people for wailing, weeping, and mourning over the dead. As the sisters worked, the dead man’s brother rushed into the scene and demanded that the brethren administer to the body. Despite the initial protestations of younger native men present who insisted the man was already dead, the brother insisted, 'You do it!' A local man, described by Cowley as a 'great old sage' who had previously assisted during the illness of the deceased man’s niece, stepped forward to help. A younger native man knelt and anointed the body, followed by the elder sage, who blessed the man and commanded him to arise. Upon this command, the Relief Society sisters quickly scattered in shock. The man suddenly sat up and asked to be fed, remarking that he did not feel well. When told he had been administered to, he replied, 'Oh, that was it,' and described his experience by stating, 'I was dead. I could feel life coming back into me just like a blanket unrolling.' The man subsequently lived for some time, outliving the brother who had insisted upon the administration.