_The Confutatio Pontificia:  
   
  In Reference To The Matters Presented To His Imperial Majesty   
   By The Elector Of Saxony And Some Princes And States Of The   
     Holy Roman Empire, On The Subject And Concerning Causes  
    Pertaining To The Christian Orthodox Faith, The Following   
          Christian Reply Can Be Given._ August 3, 1530.   
                        Edited by J.M. Reu.   
                           Published in   
         _The Augsburg Confession, A Collection of Sources._  
       (Fort Wayne, IN: Concordia Theological Seminary Press),  
                            pp. 349-383.



                              To Article VII. 
 
     The seventh article of the Confession, wherein it is affirmed
     that the Church is the congregation of saints, cannot be
     admitted without prejudice to faith if by this definition the
     wicked and sinners be separated from the Church. For in the
     Council of Constance this article was condemned among the
     articles of John Huss of cursed memory, and it plainly
     contradicts the Gospel. For there we read that John the
     Baptist compared the Church to a threshing-floor, which
     Christ will cleanse with his fan, and will gather the wheat
     into his garner, but will burn the chaff with unquenchable
     fire, Matt. 3:12. Wherefore this article of the Confession is
     in no way accepted. although we read in it their confession
     that the Church is perpetual, since here the promise of
     Christ has its place, who promises that the Spirit of truth
     will abide with it forever John 14:16. And Christ himself
     promises that he will be with the church alway unto the end
     of the world. They are praised also, in that they do not
     regard variety of rites as separating unity of faith, if they
     speak of special rites. For to this effect Jerome says:
     "Every province abounds in its own sense" (of propriety). But
     if they extend this part of the Confession to universal
     Church rites, this also must be utterly rejected, and we
     must say with St. Paul: "We have no such custom," 1 Cor.
     11:16. "For by all believers universal rites must be
     observed," St. Augustine, whose testimony they also use, well
     taught of Januarius; for we must presume that such rites were
     transmitted from the apostles.
      
 
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