If the miraculous works of Christ were disproved and done away with, two miracles would still remain which are unassailable, viz., the character of Christ, and the message of Christ. Therefore the question is not whether miracles by themselves are probable, but whether the Lord from heaven, who lived on this earth--for none could have invented the story of His life; who left a message on earth--for none could have invented that message; added to his utterances certain marvels of love and compassion to draw men's eyes towards Him for their good. This may be called the _historic_ consideration of miracles; the _scientific_ is briefly as follows:--We are told that the phenomena of nature are so many links in a chain of causes and effects, and to suppose that God breaks through this chain, is to make God contradict Himself. To this it may be answered that apart from any question of miracles, there are already flaws in this chain of causation, or rather, powers from without that can shake it, as, for instance, the outbreak of a war rendering a country, which should have been fertile, barren and wasted. Holy Scripture is not responsible for the phrase, "suspension of the laws of nature." Theologians do not dogmatise about the nature of miracles, and it would be well if science were less zealous for the inviolability of laws, the outside limits of which she cannot now ascertain. Miracles are but a part of the Gospel, and we judge them by the setting in which they are placed. Those who received them at first were not made Christians by them. (Mark ix. 23, 24.) To us they are not even the beginning of faith, for Christ was our Teacher and Friend before our infant minds could conceive what miracles meant. He, the sinless Lord, is our first miracle; His teaching is our second miracle; and a third may be added, viz., the transforming power of the Gospel in human hearts. The reader is referred to the sermon on _Miracles_ in Archbishop Thomson's "Life in the Light of God's Word," "The Reign of Law," by the Duke of Argyll, and Sir Edmund Beckett's "Review of Hume and Huxley on Miracles." MISSION. _A sending forth_. The power or commission to preach the Gospel. Thus our blessed Lord gave His disciples and their successors their mission, when He said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." MISSION. An effort to awaken or increase spiritual life in a Parish by means of special Services and Sermons. MISSIONARY SOCIETIES, _see_ Societies.