miracle
    n 1: any amazing or wonderful occurrence
    2: a marvellous event manifesting a supernatural act of a divine
       agent

Miracle \Mir"a*cle\, v. t.
   To make wonderful. [Obs.] --Shak.
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Miracle \Mir"a*cle\, n. [F., fr. L. miraculum, fr. mirari to
   wonder. See Marvel, and cf. Mirror.]
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   1. A wonder or wonderful thing.
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            That miracle and queen of genus.      --Shak.
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   2. Specifically: An event or effect contrary to the
      established constitution and course of things, or a
      deviation from the known laws of nature; a supernatural
      event, or one transcending the ordinary laws by which the
      universe is governed.
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            They considered not the miracle of the loaves.
                                                  --Mark vi. 52.
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   3. A miracle play.
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   4. A story or legend abounding in miracles. [Obs.]
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            When said was all this miracle.       --Chaucer.
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   Miracle monger, an impostor who pretends to work miracles.
      

   Miracle play, one of the old dramatic entertainments
      founded on legends of saints and martyrs or (see 2d
      Mystery, 2) on events related in the Bible.
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Miracle
   an event in the external world brought about by the immediate
   agency or the simple volition of God, operating without the use
   of means capable of being discerned by the senses, and designed
   to authenticate the divine commission of a religious teacher and
   the truth of his message (John 2:18; Matt. 12:38). It is an
   occurrence at once above nature and above man. It shows the
   intervention of a power that is not limited by the laws either
   of matter or of mind, a power interrupting the fixed laws which
   govern their movements, a supernatural power.
   
     "The suspension or violation of the laws of nature involved in
   miracles is nothing more than is constantly taking place around
   us. One force counteracts another: vital force keeps the
   chemical laws of matter in abeyance; and muscular force can
   control the action of physical force. When a man raises a weight
   from the ground, the law of gravity is neither suspended nor
   violated, but counteracted by a stronger force. The same is true
   as to the walking of Christ on the water and the swimming of
   iron at the command of the prophet. The simple and grand truth
   that the universe is not under the exclusive control of physical
   forces, but that everywhere and always there is above, separate
   from and superior to all else, an infinite personal will, not
   superseding, but directing and controlling all physical causes,
   acting with or without them." God ordinarily effects his purpose
   through the agency of second causes; but he has the power also
   of effecting his purpose immediately and without the
   intervention of second causes, i.e., of invading the fixed
   order, and thus of working miracles. Thus we affirm the
   possibility of miracles, the possibility of a higher hand
   intervening to control or reverse nature's ordinary movements.
   
     In the New Testament these four Greek words are principally
   used to designate miracles: (1.) Semeion, a "sign", i.e., an
   evidence of a divine commission; an attestation of a divine
   message (Matt. 12:38, 39; 16:1, 4; Mark 8:11; Luke 11:16; 23:8;
   John 2:11, 18, 23; Acts 6:8, etc.); a token of the presence and
   working of God; the seal of a higher power.
   
     (2.) Terata, "wonders;" wonder-causing events; portents;
   producing astonishment in the beholder (Acts 2:19).
   
     (3.) Dunameis, "might works;" works of superhuman power (Acts
   2:22; Rom. 15:19; 2 Thess. 2:9); of a new and higher power.
   
     (4.) Erga, "works;" the works of Him who is "wonderful in
   working" (John 5:20, 36).
   
     Miracles are seals of a divine mission. The sacred writers
   appealed to them as proofs that they were messengers of God. Our
   Lord also appealed to miracles as a conclusive proof of his
   divine mission (John 5:20, 36; 10:25, 38). Thus, being out of
   the common course of nature and beyond the power of man, they
   are fitted to convey the impression of the presence and power of
   God. Where miracles are there certainly God is. The man,
   therefore, who works a miracle affords thereby clear proof that
   he comes with the authority of God; they are his credentials
   that he is God's messenger. The teacher points to these
   credentials, and they are a proof that he speaks with the
   authority of God. He boldly says, "God bears me witness, both
   with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles."
   
     The credibility of miracles is established by the evidence of
   the senses on the part of those who are witnesses of them, and
   to all others by the testimony of such witnesses. The witnesses
   were competent, and their testimony is trustworthy. Unbelievers,
   following Hume, deny that any testimony can prove a miracle,
   because they say miracles are impossible. We have shown that
   miracles are possible, and surely they can be borne witness to.
   Surely they are credible when we have abundant and trustworthy
   evidence of their occurrence. They are credible just as any
   facts of history well authenticated are credible. Miracles, it
   is said, are contrary to experience. Of course they are contrary
   to our experience, but that does not prove that they were
   contrary to the experience of those who witnessed them. We
   believe a thousand facts, both of history and of science, that
   are contrary to our experience, but we believe them on the
   ground of competent testimony. An atheist or a pantheist must,
   as a matter of course, deny the possibility of miracles; but to
   one who believes in a personal God, who in his wisdom may see
   fit to interfere with the ordinary processes of nature, miracles
   are not impossible, nor are they incredible. (See LIST OF
   MIRACLES, Appendix.)
   

MIRACLE, n.  An act or event out of the order of nature and
unaccountable, as beating a normal hand of four kings and an ace with
four aces and a king.