Which of the 30,000 Protestant denominations is the true church of God?

144 Yet holiness is a mark of the true church; but, my reader, Protestant or Roman Catholic, note it well, truth, the truth of God's holy word, is another; not the uncertain vacillations of Fathers with the growing superstitions of the mystery of iniquity, but God's own pure, certain, blessed word, written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, by apostles and evangelists, and addressed to Christians and whoever has ears to hear. Lastly, grace is a mark of the true church. The knowledge of a God of love, a God who has given His Son because He loved poor sinners; of that Son's having perfectly accomplished redemption by His own offering of Himself once for all; the knowledge that His blood cleanses from all sin, that He has made peace through the blood of His cross, and that by Him all that believe are justified from all things, and have eternal life; that God will remember their sins and iniquities no more. Yes, holiness, the truth, and the knowledge of a perfect and accomplished redemption of a God of love, mark the member at least of the true church, of the body of Christ, mark the children of a heavenly Father.

And this fact is as strong against their pretence of infallibility as catholicity; for we have the church four or five hundred years after Christ, expressly decreeing that no article shall be added; and we have those who call themselves the church, fifteen or sixteen hundred years after Christ, adding twelve articles as matters of faith, and rejecting all who deny them. Was the church in the first ages, or the church of Rome at the Reformation in the right? or how can that be infallible which contradicts itself? But the true catholic church, brethren, that seed of God, which shall indeed never fail, the body of Christ, the real communion of saints, the one holy catholic and apostolic church, subsists in the company of true believers, in every age united to the great Head, Christ Jesus, by His Spirit dwelling in them, and incorporating them into His mystical body. And while the power of the Lord lasts, even to the end of the world, while the influences of the divine Spirit shew to souls His glory in hope, so long will there be a church upon earth. But to say that this is any particular communion or body of professing Christians (and that too without inquiring whether they hold the faith once delivered to the saints) is nothing else but the spirit of Antichrist.

12 I am led to some of these remarks by the little book called "Reasons which Roman Catholics offer why they cannot conform to the Protestant religion." I shall make some observations on these, in the hope that they may lead you to inquire diligently on what ground the hope of your souls rests. One reason given is the impossibility of the church of Christ erring from the true faith; and I know this weighs much with many sincere persons amongst you. Now brethren, I freely admit this; for rightly understood as to the true church, it is a self-evident truth; for this reason, that where there is no true faith, there could be no church, for the church thus understood is properly an assembly of believers, that is, of people that have a true faith. And I further freely admit, as the promise on which my souls rests, that from Christ's first coming in the flesh, till His second coming in His glory, there undoubtedly has been and will be such a company of believers; and this company of believers are all witnesses to the faith, and maintain in and to the world the profession of faith, and thus the honour of the Redeemer's name. And this is what Paul means by the church of God being the pillar and ground of the faith. And my assurance of this, which makes me full of joy and gratitude, is rested on the promise of God in His word (and its actual fulfilment at this day), and, amongst others, on the very texts given in the little book I have mentioned: so that they are proving what I joyfully confess and praise God for. And more, brethren, I say that it is the church of Christ who have the only hope of salvation; so that this is not the question between us at all. The question is, who is able to say that he is in that church, and keeping the sayings of the great Head of it? So that they should shew, which they do not, and it is absolutely impossible that they should do, that the church of Rome, and none else, is the church of Christ. On the contrary, brethren, I affirm, and I call upon you to search the scriptures whether it be so or not, that every true believer is a member of Christ, that is, one of His true church; as the Lord Christ says Himself, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman."*

The Word of God is the only right place to which one may go to find the answer. Therein we read throughout of one Church in blessed unity in all lands. But we find no denominational names of men attached to it such as we hear of in our day. This Church is the Church of the living God and the only church which God owns and recognizes and to which every true believer in Christ is already joined by God's Spirit, as our subsequent studies will show. To the Scriptures, then, we shall go to find out what God has to say about His Church - "The Church of the Living God."

35 Now, if it be a question for heathens or Jews — for them the whole question is, just how to be saved. If they believe and are baptized, they are saved, and members, it is to be supposed, of the true church, before they have discussed its merits at all. If it be a question which arises among Christians, who seek among Roman Catholics, and Protestants, and Presbyterians, and other bodies, where the true church is to be found; if, I say, the question arises among Christians, they have not all knowledge, doubtless, but they have saving faith, or they are not Christians at all; and hence, the truth is a most sure means of ascertaining the true church. Thus, if I know, as a matter of my own salvation, that the divinity and atonement of Christ are the very truth of God, and I found everything calling itself a church which denied these fundamental doctrines, I could at once say, That is not the true church. Souls may be ignorantly in error there — may come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved; but I cannot own the body as the true church of God.

But then he is in a greater difficulty. The Greek church holds the doctrines, the Protestant Episcopal church, the Lutheran, the Presbyterian. So that as a means of learning which is the true church, the confession of these truths is of no avail, for many rival communions hold them. I have already remarked that the distinctive doctrines of popery are very unholy, as that the church has provided an easier way for remission than contrition, and that penance can be commuted for money.

38 We agree that unity was at the first; and it does not exist now. There are Romanists, Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Protestant Episcopalians, Presbyterians, all composing nominal churches, containing, the smallest of them, millions of professing Christians. Your talking of unity of doctrine and discipline amongst Romanists is nothing at all to the purpose. So there is amongst the millions of the Greek church; so there is in the smallest body of Christians you may affect to despise. The question is, Is unity found in the whole professing church? If you tell me, But none of the others, save Rome, are in the truth, that is just the question to be solved, and I must first have the truth to judge by. If I have that, according to the word of God, to judge by, then I judge the Romanist system to be apostasy from the truth of God. That you are at one among yourselves proves nothing at all, because others, as the Greek body, are that also. Nay, to go further, Mahometans are, as to doctrine and general discipline, with pretty much such a schism as Greeks and Romans shew under the name of Christ. Nay, in China we have numerically more than all put together in one system, worshipping heaven and the manes of their sainted ancestors.

Outwardly, among the true disciples of the Lord, there are many divisions, but there is a unity that marks them that can never be destroyed. Every true believer in the Son of God has His divine life and nature, and of this they never can be robbed. The fellowship that they have with each other in divine life, and in which they have communion with the Father and the Son, knows no divisions, for wherever true Christians meet they have this common bond, and communion together, whatever marks them outwardly in the confusion of Christendom.

How good it would be if true believers were all found together outwardly, presenting an unbroken front before the world in testimony for the Lord; but this has never been found since the first years of the church’s sojourn on earth. The twelve, it would seem from Scripture, remained united all their days. There were divisions in the early church, as we learn from 1 Corinthians 3:3, but these existed while the outward form of unity was maintained.

The only true ground on which believers can gather is set forth in that grand statement, "There is one body, and one Spirit." And, again, "We being many are one loaf and one body." (Eph. 4. 4; 1 Cor. 10:17) If God declares that there is but "one body," it must be contrary to His mind to have many bodies, sects, or denominations.

But in our day of ruin of the visible testimony and multiplied divisions, it is no longer true that all the real Christians in any locality are found together in a visible testimony or united assembly as at the beginning. They are found scattered in many varying groups. Therefore, no one gathering of believers can claim today to be "the Church of God" in a certain place, for that title embraces every true believer in Christ in that community.