IF the Christian of today turns to the Bible for comfort and healing, he will find in it a good many accounts of what are generally called miracles. He may think with regret that these miracles were possible only in the past; he may even believe that the power to perform miracles was a supernatural gift of grace bestowed on exceptional individuals. On page 591 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy defines the word "miracle" as follows: "That which is divinely natural, but must be learned humanly; a phenomenon of Science."
To interpret the many wonderful events recorded in the Bible as the outgrowth of conditions which were prevalent at the time but which may never recur would be to deny the efficacy of the divine Mind, God. These so-called miracles were the result of the consecrated endeavor and self-sacrificing obedience of those by whom they were performed. They were the result of spiritual understanding, and it is clear that they were the fruits of individual faith in God.
These deeds demonstrate the true meaning of religion, for they show that divine worship finds its best expression in such works as healing the sick and the sinning, comforting the sorrowing, raising the dead. The notion that only exceptional individuals, possessing supernatural powers, are capable of performing so-called miracles was refuted by James when he wrote (5:17, 18): "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."
