Protestant do not deny the Catholic church as a historical entity — so evidence of the historical basis of the sacraments, heirarchy, etc. does not seem to be germane. We are aware they existed for a while ... we think they are wrong.
Protestants typically deny that the Catholic church — particularly since the Protestant reformation — is endowed with any specific exclusivity as the church of Christ. We also deny that any person or entity is endowed with infallibility of any kind. Historical evidence cannot address these objections, so is unlikely to be even remotely persuasive to a Protestant.
SnakeDoc
Denial of reality is not a good basis for religious truths. We suggest you don’t do it. We don’t.
It is germane if you make the link back to the apostles and therefore Christ himself, because Christ said he would be with his Church forever and it would be free from teaching error.
If you find the historical Church you find the security of God's protection over it.
“Protestants typically deny that the Catholic church — particularly since the Protestant reformation —...”
And before? Or did the Church not exist before the soi disant “Protestant reformation”?
BTW, when was the soi disant “Protestant reformation”?