Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 edition. Excerpt:...better than most others, in wresting the Bible in accordance with their views, and they probably have more vitality, such as it is, than any other Protestant sect. Of all Protestant theories, Calvinism, though the most revolting, is the least inconsistent with itself. The real intellect of the Protestant world has been, and is on the Calvinistic side. Luther is more amiable, more of a free, bold, dashing nature than John Calvin, but he never was his intellectual peer, never had any thing of Calvin's clearness of mind, concentrated thought,. vast constructive genius, or rigid logic. Calvinism is, at times, terribly consistent, and is able to pervert a considerable portion of Scripture in its favor; but it has never been able to make the Scriptures teach that God is the author of sin, that Christ died for the elect only, that man by the fall lost his free will, that a man has free will though he has no freedom of choice, or that he chooses freely when he has no power to choose the contrary, that justification is purely forensic, and by faith alone, without works, that grace is irresistible and inamissible, that God causes men to sin necessarily, that he may damn them justly, and various kindred'doc-trines. If the Calvinists fail, which among the Protestant sects can hope to succeed? The fact is, no Protestant sect can find any more than certain detached passages of Scripture in its favor. How, then, pretend that the Bible is in favor of Protestantism? On the other hand, the right reverend author shows that the Bible, interpreted by the light of Catholic tradition, harmonizes throughout with the teaching of the church. The Catholic student may find texts that are obscure to him, the full meaning of which he does not comprehend, but he never finds a...