THE TRUE CHURCH

Where is this one true Church? What is this one true Church like? What are the marks by which this one true Church may be known? You may well ask such questions. Give me your attention, and I will provide you with some answers.

1. The one true Church IS COMPOSED OF ALL BELIEVERS IN THE LORD JESUS. It is made up of all God's elect - of all converted men and women - of all true Christians. In whomsoever we can discern the election of God the Father, the sprinkling of the blood of God the Son, the sanctifying work of God the Spirit, in that person we see a member of Christ's true Church.

2. It is a Church OF WHICH ALL THE MEMBERS HAVE THE SAME MARKS. They are all born again of the Spirit; they all possess "repentance towards God, faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ," and holiness of life and conversation. They all hate sin, and they all love Christ. (They worship differently, and after various fashions; some worship with a form of prayer, and some with none; some worship kneeling, and some standing; but they all worship with one heart.) They are all led by one Spirit; they all build upon one foundation; they all draw their religion from one single book - that is the Bible. They are all joined to one great center - that is Jesus Christ. They all even now can say with one heart, "Hallelujah;" and they can all respond with one heart and voice, Amen and Amen.

3. It is a Church WHICH IS DEPENDENT UPON NO MINISTERS UPON EARTH, however much it values those who preach the gospel to its members. The life of its members does not hang upon Church-membership, or baptism, or the Lord's Supper - although they highly value these things when they are to be had. But it has only one Great Head - one Shepherd, one chief Bishop - and that is Jesus Christ. He alone, By His Spirit, admits the members of this Church, though ministers may show the door. Till He opens the door no man on earth can open it - neither bishops, nor presbyters, nor convocations, nor synods. Once let a man repent and believe the gospel, and that moment he becomes a member of this Church. Like the penitent thief, he may have no opportunity of being baptized; but he has that which is far better than any water-baptism - the baptism of the Spirit. He may not be able to receive the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper;but he eats Christ's body and drinks Christ's blood by faith every day he lives, and no minister on earth can prevent him. He may be ex-communicated by ordained men, and cut off from the outward ordinances of the professing Church; but all the ordained men in the world cannot shut him out of the true Church.

It is a Church whose existence does not depend on forms, ceremonies, cathedrals, churches, chapels, pulpits, fonts, vestments, organs, endowments, money, kings, governments, magistrates or any act of favor whatsoever from the hand of man. It has often lived on and continued when all these things have been taken from it. It has often been driven into the wilderness, or into dens and caves of the earth, by those who ought to have been its friends. Its existence depends on nothing but the presence of Christ and His Spirit; and they being ever with it, the Church cannot die.

4. This is the Church TO WHICH THE SCRIPTURAL TITLES OF PRESENT HONOR AND PRIVILEGE, AND THE PROMISES OF FUTURE GLORY ESPECIALLY BELONG; this is the Body of Christ; this is the flock of Christ; this is the household of faith and the family of God; this is God's building, God's foundation, and the temple of the Holy Ghost. This is the Church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven; this is the royal priesthood, the chosen generation, the peculiar people, the purchased possession, the habitation of God, the light of the world, the salt and the wheat of the earth; this is the "Holy Catholic Church" of the Apostles' Creed; this is the "One Catholic and Apostolic Church" of the Nicene Creed; this is that Church to which the Lord Jesus promises "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it," and to which He says, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world"(Matt.16:18; 28:2).

5. This is the only Church WHICH POSSESSES TRUE UNITY. Its members are entirely agreed on all the weightier matters of religion, for they are all taught by one Spirit. About God, and Christ, and the Spirit, and sin, and their own hearts, and faith, and repentance, and necessity of holiness, and the value of the Bible, and the importance of prayer, and the resurrection, and judgment to come - about all these points they are of one mind. Take three or four of them, strangers to one another, from the remotest corners of the earth; examine them separately on these points: you will find them all one judgment.

6. This is the only Church WHICH POSSESSES TRUE SANCTITY. Its members are all holy. They are not merely holy by profession, holy in name, and holy in the judgment of charity; they are all holy in act, and deed, and reality, and life, and truth. They are all more or less conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. No unholy man belongs to this Church.

7. This is the only Church WHICH IS TRULY CATHOLIC. It is not the Church of any one nation or people; its members are to be found in every part of the world where the gospel is received and believed. It is not confined within the limits of any one country, or pent up within the pale of any particular forms of outward government. In it there is no difference between Jew and Greek, black man and white, Episcopalian and Presbyterian - but faith in Christ is all. Its members will be gathered from north, and south, and east, and west, and will be of every name and tongue - but all one in Jesus Christ.

8. This is the only Church WHICH IS TRULY APOSTOLIC. It is built on the foundation laid by the Apostles, and holds the doctrines which they preached. The two grand objects at which its members aim are apostolic faith and apostolic practice; and they consider the man who talks of following the Apostles without possessing these two things to be no better than sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.

9. This is the only Church WHICH IS CERTAIN TO ENDURE UNTO THE END. Nothing can altogether overthrow and destroy it. Its members may be persecuted, oppressed, imprisoned, beaten, beheaded, burned; but the true Chruch is never altogether extinguished; it rises again from its afflictions; it lives on through fire and water. When crushed in one land it springs up in another. The Pharaohs, the Herods, the Neros, the Bloody Marys, have labored in vain to put down this Church; they slay their thousands, and then pass away and go to their own place. The true Church outlives them all, and sees them buried each in his turn. It is an anvil that has broken many a hammer in this world, and will break many a hammer still; it is a bush which is often burning, and yet it's not consumed.

10. This is the only Church OF WHICH NO ONE MEMBER CAN PERISH. Once enrolled in the lists of this Church, sinners are safe for eternity; they are never cast away. The election of God the Father, the continual intercession of God the Son, the daily renewing and sanctifying power of God the Holy Ghost, surround and fence them in like a garden enclosed. Not one bone of Christ's mystical Body shall ever be broken; not one lamb of Christ's flock shall ever be plucked out of His hand.

11. This is the Church WHICH DOES THE WORK OF CHRIST UPON EARTH. Its members are a little flock, and few in numbers, compared with the children of the world; one or two here, and two or three there - a few in this place and few in that. But these are they who shake the universe; these are they who change the fortunes of kingdoms by their prayers; these are they who are the active workers for spreading the knowledge of pure religion and undefiled; these are the life-blood of a country, the shield, the defence, the stay, and the support of any nation to which they belong.

12. This is the Church WHICH SHALL BE TRULY GLORIOUS AT THE END. When all earthly glory is passsed away then shall this Church be presented without spot before God the Father's throne. Thrones, principalities, and powers upon earth shall come to nothing; dignities, and offices, and endowments shall all pass away; but the Church of the first-born shall shine as the stars at the last, and be presented with joy before the Father's throne, in the day of Christ's appearing. When the Lord's jewels are made up, and manifestation of the sons of God takes place, Episcopacy, and Presbyterianism, and Congregationalism will not be mentioned; one Church only will be named, and that is the Church of the elect.

13. Reader, THIS IS THE TRUE CHURCH TO WHICH A MAN MUST BELONG, IF HE WOULD BE SAVED. Till you belong to this, you are nothing better than a lost soul. You may have the form, the husk, the skin, and the shell of religion, but you have not got the substance and the life. Yes, you may have countless outward privileges; you may enjoy great light, and knowledge - but if you do not belong to the Body of Christ, your light and knowledge and privileges will not save your soul. Alas, for the ignorance that prevails on this point! Men fancy if they join this church or that church, and become communicants, and go through certain forms, that all must be right in their souls. It is an utter delusion, it is a gross mistake. All were not Israel who were called Israel, and all are not members of Christ's Body who profess themselves Christian. TAKE NOTICE; you may be a staunch Episcopalian, or Presbyterian, or Independent, or Baptist, or Wesleyan, or Plymouth Brother - and yet not belong to the true Church. And if you do not, it will be better at last if you had never been born.

I am not into writing long essays and especially any essays on judging my fellow man. I do note that the main text of the article seems to have the Roman Catholic Church as its target. This is unfortunate because St. Paul instructed us to have faith hope and love but to make sure we have love.

The article is an example of what should not be written in todays' turmoil of gay bishops and priests who abuse children and "Where the hearts of men grow cold."

Rather an article on prayer for all sinners who have "Come short of the Glory of God", should be offered so that we all come as one and rest in God's bosom.

Remember sinners in your prayers, especially me!

God Bless You!

...Catholics have similar views on non-dogmatic issues: if it hasn't been dogmatically defined we are free to debate without hurling anathemas.

What are the non-dogmatic issues of the RC church? Papal infallibility? The perpetual virginity of Mary or the celibacy of Joseph? Our obligation to pray to Mary? Transubstantiation? Purgatory? A celibate priesthood? I don't know which of these are dogmatic and which are non-dogmatic as far as Catholics are concerned, but I do know that none are supported by Scripture.

Hello to my Protestant fellows. I'm Catholic and stick to the Catholic threads, but the overt attack on the ONE TRUE CHURCH did catch my eye. Your positions are erroneous because you possess no grounding in history, and as soon as you do establish those groundings, you will cease to be Protestant and join the ONE TRUE CHURCH. Just keep in mind that the Eucharistic Lord is the center of the ONE TRUE CHURCH: don't you hunger to receive Him? Read John 6: Christ will always be waiting for you to feed you. He calls all to be ONE with Him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

This is an attack on no one.

Perhaps if you are interested in "attack" threads you will read the one posted by a Catholic a few weeks ago that found general agreement among your fellow that Protestants worship a different god than Catholics..and are doomed. While Islam worships the same god as Catholics..I will not comment on my thoughts on that ,

History is not a marker of truth, after all Hitler and Stalin were also historic. The measure of truth is Jesus

Priestly celibacy is not a dogma. It is merely a practice. It is not somethign we believe is revealed as a truth which all must ascribe to. Rather, it is merely our way of doing things.

You may be unaware, but there exist entire branches of the One Catholic Church which have priests who are married. Not in this country, but in the East. We couldn't very well do that if it was a dogmatic belief that priests must be celibate, right?

As for the rest, your wording about Mary aside (who considers having someone to pray with you an "obligation"? Do you feel "obliged" to pray with your fellow Christians? Is it a burden?), the rest are indeed dogmatic beliefs.

An example of an open area that is not dogmatic is the question of what happens to infants who die prior to being baptised.

You're mixing apples with oranges. The article you cite was of a hard line Catholic. It stated nothing about Muslims. Anyone who believes Protestants are in error would not embrace Muslims.

Not only no grounding in hostory, no grounding in scripture! For we are told that the Church shall be unified, and visible. The various churches squabble amongst themselves over virtually every issue, break off into their own little denominations, and are invisible to the world.

The Catholic Church hid scripture..even from its priests before Luther. Some early Catholic Theologians did not even read it. The people only "heard it" in a foreign language (latin)

Nor was this attitude toward the Bible essentially different among the theologians. Even though the Bible remained the source book of theology during the Middle Ages, it was seldom studied directly by the theologians. Luther complains that both in the monasteries and the universities the Bible was seldom read directly, and when it was, it was understood according to the categories of Aristotle. Those seeking "real" theology were instead directed to study the scholastic theologians, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Occam, and others. As a typical example of this, Luther mentions his fellow professor Andreas Karlstadt, who did not even own a Bible when he earned his doctor of theology degree, nor did he until many years later (e.g., WA TR 1, no. 174).

The Catholic Church hid scripture..even from its priests before Luther. Some early Catholic Theologians did not even read it. The people only "heard it" in a foreign language (latin)

You toss these accusations around. You act like there was no Scripture to be found in any of the works of the great theologians. This is pitiful.

As for the poor people being forced to listen in a foreign language, it never fails to amuse. Anyone who could read or write at that time could read and write Latin. Duh.

But where I believe Hank's position is flawed, and maybe some of you can answer this, is how do we ultimately know what's a core issue or not? What is worthy of utter repudiation as heresy and what is tolerable debate? We can lay out a series of "you-must-believe-this-to-be-a-Christian", but what divine authority does it have? There is no clear delineation in Scripture and in the end it seems to be just a personal opinion.

Hi Claud, gee it has been a long time since we "talked".

I can not speak for Hank, but I would say the core issues that he is talking about is the nature of God and the work of the persons in the trinity . We agree with the Apostles creed and the Nicene creed . I do believe that He would call that the essentials to be a part of the "visible (professing) church".

Obviously neither of us consider the other to hold correct doctrine on Salvation.

For you it is salvation by faith and works, for us it is faith alone (with the works of the saved appointed to us by God )

These are not "minor" differences by any means , and should not be painted over

Number 3 and number 8 above conflict. "Rich" should proof read his work before he goes to publication.

"Rich" is a famous Theologian and no they do not conflict a bit.

. 3) But it has only one Great Head - one Shepherd, one chief Bishop - and that is Jesus Christ. He alone, By His Spirit, admits the members of this Church, though ministers may show the door. Till He opens the door no man on earth can open it - neither bishops, nor presbyters, nor convocations, nor synods.

8.) This is the only Church WHICH IS TRULY APOSTOLIC. It is built on the foundation laid by the Apostles, and holds the doctrines which they preached.

The apostles preached repent and believe and salvation by faith not rituals

PS Ryle was an Anglican Bishop

I believe you rush to judgment .Ryle was an Anglican Bishop and I believe he was addressing a doctrinal change in his own church..;but if the shoe fits wear it.:>)

>>The Catholic Church hid scripture..even from its priests before Luther. Some early Catholic Theologians did not even read it. The people only "heard it" in a foreign language (latin)

Everything you think you know about Catholicism was taught to you by hate-mongering, screeding propagandists.

For most of church history (1500 years), bibles weren't available commonly simply because there was no mass publishing invented yet. For that history, people learned what was in the bible from their priest, and yes, every pastor had a bible, and could read it well, and the countryside teamed with religious who could teach. Which was OK, because it was thought only right that people should learn from educated people. In fact, for 3,000 years, the Jews omitted vowels and spaces to make it impossible for anyone to read the Bible without a rabbi.

When Luther began publishing the Bible in the vernacular, he actually omitted 7 books of the New Testament which are currently in the Protestant bible (Revelations, James, etc.) for the precise reason that they refuted directly his assertions... He reasoned they so baldly contradicted his beliefs that they must be fraudulent. Given the omissions, the purposeful mistranslations and tragic translational errors (ever hear of the "Devil's Bible"?), and the ease at which bible verse can be taken out of the bible (Satan himself quotes scripture!), is it any wonder the Church suppressed the distribution of Protestant bibles?

The use of Latin was not to enable people from being misinformed about what was contained in the bible. It wasn't only the bible that people used latin to study. It was the language of philosophy, science, history, and every other subject. And for a good reason. "Vulgate" meant the language of the common people, and until long after Gutenberg, far more poeple were literate in Latin than in all other languages in Europe combined. The use of a common language prevented theological misunderstandings, as had tore the Latin and Greek churches apart. It persisted through the 1960s, and to this day, Catholic schools still teach Latin to their students.

And I have to laugh at people who find something sinister about insisting on Latin while so many Protestants insist on using a Jacobian bible whose language they don't even realize how poorly they understand. And it's not even due to the ignorance of the reader: Jacobian English isn't even standardized enough to avoid theologically devestating ambiguity.

You need to read the entire thread..it was a part of the conversation..

No one who thinks "Protestants" worship a different God thinks Muslims worship the same God. You imply the article said so, when it didn't. And I hardly think any poster would hold such ideas in his head.

Maybe two different Catholics would hold these two different ideas. Or mean two different things by the term. But no one person or article would say what you say they said. That's dishonest of you to state it that way.

As for the poor people being forced to listen in a foreign language, it never fails to amuse. Anyone who could read or write at that time could read and write Latin. Duh.

What about those that could not"read and write"?

Dave I do not believe the majority of the populous in 1600 could read and write Latin

So only those that spoke Latin could understand the gospel.

Dave do you know how pathetic that sounds?

Dave why do you think the church kept the Bible from almost everyone?

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