FINNISH GOLD STORY.

In the booklet, The Quiet Hour, by S. D. Gordon, published by Fleming H. Revell Co., New York City, there is a story of miraculous increase, of which the following is a condensed account. It is called

FINNISH GOLD STORY.

"It was a winter's night up in Stockholm. The evening meeting was over, and a number of Christian friends were gathered about the supper table. We were talking as we ate, of our experiences of God's goodness. One lady present was induced to tell through interpretation, a story of the unusual experience of a friend of hers in Finland.
It was about a woman who had to pay an unjust bill for lumber used in building a little chapel. She hadn't money enough; all efforts to get more failed; legal action threatened; then during prayer the money in her little treasure box increased in amount until there was enough to pay the claim. That is the bones of the story.
It quite startled every one who heard it. Such a thing was unheard of in modern times. And doubt was freely expressed by some of the most earnest and thoughtful ones present. The doubt was not of God's power to do such a thing, but of the accuracy of the story. The woman in her excitement must have made a mistake. Some friend was secretly helping, it was thought. Was she used to counting money? Was the box locked up so that no one else could get access to it? She was probably a good woman, but rather excitable. So question and comment ran.
As I listened to the story, then to the comments, I though that if it were true and our friend who told it to us, and who personally knew the woman in it, seemed quite assured herself of its being so it should not be told until it could be thoroughly verified, but that if it could indeed be verified, it should be told, and told widely."
Here the author tells of how he and his wife prayed, that, if the story were true, they might be led to Finland and meet the woman and speak in the little chapel. It is exceedingly interesting to read of how the Spirit opened the way, so that they went to the village and were with the woman two days, having an excellent interpreter, who also came in answer to prayer.
The woman is the postmistress of the village, or rather railroad junction, a very important post which she has occupied over twenty years. It is a position of great responsibility, as there are no banks in Finland and much money passes through the mails. Something like $800,000 passed through her hands some years.
"Her books were as carefully kept as any bank account books I have ever examined in my earlier banking days ; not only with painstaking accuracy, but with neatness of a skilled accountant. This seems sufficient answer to the comments I heard when the story was told in Stockholm."
There was need of a chapel, and the woman, a quiet, unassuming body, undertook to lead and be responsible for its building. Free-will offerings constituted the supply. While the building was going on, there came a bill for lumber, which had been bought and received. But the charge was larger than it should have been. With the bill came a peremptory demand for immediate payment of the money, $150, threatening legal proceedings. It is customary in Finland to provide long credit, and the chapel funds were not equal to that payment. The people were poor, and there had been much opposition on the part of the Church people to
the chapel being built.
She made every effort to get the money, but it was all fruitless. The final time of payment drew near. She made one last journey to a near-by town. "The man she hoped to see was abroad; his wife thought she ought not to have begun building till she had the money."
On her way back, as she was in prayer, a thought came to her that had been coming, more or less, all through this trial. It was of how Jesus increased the loaves and fishes. She thought, "God can touch my slender chapel funds and do as in the desert, make them sufficient for the need."
"On her return home, as soon as she could get time from her work, she went to the drawer to get the little box where the chapel funds were kept. She had counted the money before that last journey and she found she had just $70 (350 marks in Finnish money)." She had $18 of her own. She was all alone, and she poured the money on the table and put her own meager store with it, and covering it with her hands, prayed in simple childlike language :
"Lord Jesus bless Thy money as Thou dist bless the loaves in the wilderness. I will put my loaves too in Thy hands, and do Thou let them, with Thine, meet this need ; let this money cover the amount of this bill."
Then she counted the money, and it was exactly 751 marks ($150) and she noticed there was now much gold, though there had not been much gold in the box.
She sent word to the collector that he could come for the money. Before he arrived she again spread the money out to count it, this time feeling an impulse to take out her own little store of 90 marks ($18) and the remainder amounted again to the 751 marks ($150). With a heart overflowing with thanksgiving she awaited the collector.
When he came she told him her wonderful experience, and he was much moved. As the money was counted again before him, there were a few silver coins over, and the bill was duly paid, and the officer gave her the receipt.
The author goes into many details, to show the unmistakable character of the wonder-work, and gives it as a message from the prayer-answering God.

"Prosperity through the knowledge and power of mind; lectures and mental treatments delivered in London, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles in the years between 1900 and 1913" by Annie Rix Militz

In the early 1900s, S.D. Gordon (1859 - 1936) was a widely traveled speaker in high demand. A prolific author, Samuel Dickey Gordon wrote more than 25 devotional books, most with the phrase "Quiet Talks" in the title. His first book sold half a million copies over 40 years! Altogether he produced twenty-five books, twenty-two of which belonged to the Quiet Talks series.