Excerpt from The Protestant: Or Negative Faith, Refuted, and the Catholic, Or Affirmative Faith, Demonstrated From ScriptureProtestant is the general appellation by which all those sects designate themselves, that have built their various and ever-varying systems of belief upon the same bottom with the first Reformer, Luther: that is, on the right assumed by every one of interpreting the Holy Scriptures for himself: and of forming his faith accordingly. This common tide, which they have taken lo themselves, is, in truth, the most appropriate one they could possibly have chosen: as all their doctrines purely such, and properly their own, are but so many flat denies, or open protests made against as many affirmative articles taught by the Catholic Church. They are all negatives, or nay, opposed to as many affirmatives, or yea.The first negative, or Protestant assertion, ever advanced, was that of the Devil to our first Parents in Paradise, in direct contradiction to God's positive declaration, that if they eat of the forbidden fruit, they should die. - You shall not die, said the Devil. This negative was the first lie. Hence the Devil is called a liar, and the father of lies.The Religion of God is a revealed one arid hence is called Revelation. But a negative cannot be revealed: for the denial of any thing supposes that thing previously revealed and affirmed: since where nothing is affirmed nothing can be denied, Hence, the Protest ants Creed, which consists entirely of denials, can make no part of Divine Revelation.Christ, the eternal word, is the essential truth. - I am the way. the truth and the life, says he - John xiv. 6. But according to St. Paul, he, and his doctrine, is ever and essentially affirmative, for he is neither nay, says that Apostle, nor yea and nay: that is, in consistently affirming and denying the same thing but he is always yea: fall Hie promises of God are in him yea, and therefore in him Amen, that is, be it so, which is affirmative, and the very name of the faith.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.