INTERMEDIATE STATE. The condition of the disembodied spirit Irmo the hour of death till the general resurrection. IZefer•nces to this emulition in the !tilde are few and vague, and in the absence of definite information several theo• lies have been elaborated. (1) Probably thc shirt popular view is that the souls of the right pass to heaVeli and those of the wicked to ( ondenina t ion ittimedia t ely upon death. Pas sages like Luke xxiii. 43, xvi. 2••23, are held to favor this view. (2) A second theory is that the intermediate state is one of sleep or oncoo "eimc:ness. This was taught as early as the mid dle of the third century by certain Arabians called Thnetopsyvhites, and combated by origen. It was disapproved by the (niversity of Paris in 1210, and by Benedict XII. in 1:1116. It was re vived by certain Swiss Anabaptists and opposed by Calvin. It has been held by a few in later t imps, most notably by .11-elihishop \VIlately. (3) It is held that an intermediate place is provided wherein the souls of the dead exist until the thy of resurrection. The Dios/ definite form of this view is the Homan Catholie doctrine of (nuga tory. The Church only lays down as de fide that there is a place of purification for departed sold•, and that the soul, detained therein are aided by the prayers and masses offered by the faithful on (Council of Trent. se:, vi,, xxv,). The doctrine of purification after death for those who die in Cod's favor kit not yet sittliviently free from imperfeetions to enter This presence. is supported by reference to such passages of the New Testament as Matt. Nii. 32, 1. iii. 11-15, Matt. v. 25, as well as by a continuous tradition. of NV1111•11 Tertullian speaks at the end of the second century as already old, and of which the custom of praying for the dead, uni. versa) in the early Church, is good evidence. The doctrine is also held to satisfy the demands of common reason. since it is difficult to imagine people of ordinary mixed eharaeters, neither very good nor very bacl, passing ill1Illediately into a state of perfeet beatitude or being condemned to unending punishment. As to whether purgatory
is a definite plate. and as to the method of puri fication employed. nothing has been defined; it is clearly Understood. 110Wel.'er. that 110 inattlq what are the pains incident to the purifying process, the souls undergoing it do so willingly and gladly, since they know that each moment brings them nearer to the goal of their desire, union with Cod.
Nloilern theology is deeply interested in the history of the doctrine of a purification by fire. It is generally granted that its earliest appear alive is in the Persian idea of a purifying conflag ration preceding the final victory of Ahura :\laz da, by which everything that is impure will he consumed. There is evidence that this doctrine passed fruit the Persians to the Jews and Chris tians. The Sibylline Oracles show how widely the conception of an ordeal by fire through which the good would pass unscathed was accepted in Christian as well as •Tewish circles in the second century A.D. This, however, is only one root of the doctrine of a purgatory. Another was the allXiety about those who had (lied before the appearance of the Messiah and Iris kingdom. .lows prayed for them: Christians were baptized for them Cor. xv. 29) t Christ. Himself was supposed to have gone to Hades after Ills death to preach gospel to some of them (I. Peter iii. 19, 20; iv. 6). While the Gnostic reaction eliminated the notion of a sudden conflagration of the world, it emphasized the impurity of mat ter and the gradual purgation of the soul, and thus paved the way for a general acceptance of the doctrine as found in the Alexandrian fathers. Consult: Coleridge, Prisoners of the King (Lon don, 1878) ; Jungmann, Ile Norissimis (Regens burg, 1871) : Bautz, Das Fcgfeuer (Alainz,1883) ; and see HADES HEAVEN: 1 I ELL ; IMMORTALITY; JUDGMENT, FINAL; RESURRECTION : INDULGENCES; PROBATION AFTER DEATII.