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a local church or a denomination cease to be an integral part of the one visible Church? (4) Is a
single external institution or organization essential to the unity of the visible Church, or not?
These are some of the problems that still call for further study.
G. THE MARKS OF THE CHURCH.
1. THE MARKS OF THE CHURCH IN GENERAL.
a. The need of such marks. Little need was felt for such marks as long as the Church was
clearly one.
But when heresies arose, it became necessary to point to certain marks by which
the true Church could be recognized. The consciousness of this need was already present in the
early Church, was naturally less apparent in the Middle Ages, but became very strong at the
time of the Reformation. At that time the one existing Church was not only divided into two
great sections, but Protestantism itself was divided into several Churches and sects. As a result
it was felt ever increasingly that it was necessary to point out some marks by which the true
Church could be distinguished from the false. The very fact of the Reformation proves that the
Reformers, without denying that God maintains His Church, were yet deeply conscious of the
fact that an empirical embodiment of the Church may become subject to error, may depart
from the truth, and may totally degenerate. They assumed the existence of a standard of truth
to which the Church must correspond, and recognized as such the Word of God.
b. The marks of the Church in Reformed theology.
Reformed theologians differed as to the
number of the marks of the Church. Some spoke of but one, the preaching of the pure doctrine
of the Gospel (Beza, Alsted, Amesius, Heidanus, Maresius); others, of two, the pure preaching
of the word and the right administration of the sacraments (Calvin, Bullinger, Zanchius, Junius,
Gomarus, Mastricht, à Marck) and still others added to these a third, the faithful exercise of
discipline (Hyperius, Martyr, Ursinus, Trelcatius, Heidegger, Wendelinus). These three are also
named in our Confession;[Art. XXIX.] but after making mention of them, the Confession
combines them all into one by saying: “in short, if all things are managed according to the pure
Word of God.” In course of time a distinction was made, especially in Scotland, between those
features which are absolutely necessary to the being of a Church, and those which are only
necessary to its well-being. Some began to feel that, however necessary discipline might be to
the health of the Church, it would be wrong to say that a church without discipline was no
Church at all. Some even felt the same way about the right administration of the sacraments,
since they did not feel free to unchurch either the Baptists or the Quakers. The effect of this is
seen in the Westminster Confession, which mentions as the only thing that is indispensable to
the being of the Church “the profession of the true religion,” and speaks of other things, such as
purity of doctrine or worship, and of discipline as excellent qualities of particular churches, by
which the degree of their purity may be measured.[Chap. XXV, paragraphs 2, 4. 5.] Dr. Kuyper