1Timothy Pickering to Thomas Jefferson, 12 February 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
You will recollect that Gibbon , in his history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, treats of the Christian Religion; and that he assigns five secondary causes of its prevalence, & final victory over the established religions of the earth. Among these, one was “ the miraculous powers ascribed to the primitive church .” It seems plain that Gibbon considered the miracles ascribed to...