CONFESSIONAL WITNESS TO THE MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH It is quite easy to document the significance of these marks for the Reformers and their churches from the national creeds they wrote. Luther insisted that the church becomes visible, not where the rule of bishops and cardinals and popes is present, but where the Word is properly proclaimed and the sacraments purely administered. He approved of the Augsburg Confession (drawn up by Melanchthon in 1530) which states in part one: VII. It is also