Here now is the second installment of my irregular series, "Passages Pulled at Random from an 1881 Compilation of Essays from the 19th Century Liturgical Journal called The Princeton Review."

This week, we excerpt from Yale professor George Fisher's "The Historical Proofs of Christianity":

Now who were the original witnesses of the miracles of Jesus? As Cardinal Newman has said, they were far from a dull or ignorant race. The inhabitants of a maritime and border country (as Gaililee was); engaged, moreover, in commerce; composed of natives of various countries, and, therefore, from the nature of the case, acquainted with more than one language, have necesarily their intellects sharpened and their minds considerably enlarged, and are of all men least disposed to acquiesce in marvellous tales. Such a people must have examined before they suffered themselves to be excited in the degree which the evangelists describe."

Case closed! See ya next time.