INTERMEDIATE STATE: A term designating both the period and the condition of the soul between death and the final judgment. The intermediate state is an aspect of the doctrine of Hades (q.v.). It has assumed many forms. (1) The early doctrine; which in general has continued to be the common view, that the dead remain in a condition of privation until the resurrection--the righteous happier (martyrs going at once to Paradise), the wicked more miserable, than while on earth (Irenĉus, Haer. v. 31; Tertullian, "On the Soul," lv.). (2) Purgatory, the condition of those who depart this life in faith, yet are still liable to punitive sufferings for venial sins and who are purged before their entrance into heaven; such may be "helped" by the suffrages of the faithful, but principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar " (Council of Trent, Sess. xxv.; see PURGATORY). (3) The limbo of the Fathers is the abode of Old-Testament saints to whom after his death Christ preached the Gospel (Thomas Aquinas, Summa, qu. 69, art. 4; Dante, Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto iv.; W. E. Addis and T. Arnold, Catholic Dictionary, pp. 564-565, London, 1903). (4) The limbo of infants is the region to which unbaptized infants are consigned after death, to remain forever in a state of privation, without suffering and also without happiness, a doctrine based on the universal necessity of baptism for the remission of the guilt of original sin (Thomas Aquinas, ut sup., qu. 69, art. 6; See INFANT SALVATION; LIMBUS). (5) The sleep of souls, based on such passages as Acts vii. 60, xiii. 36; I Cor. xv. 6, 18, 20, 51; I Thess. iv. 13-15. Between
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BIBLIOGRAPHY: The literature of the subject is well covered under ESCHATOLOGY; HADES; and PROBATION, FUTURE (qq.v.). Consult further: V. U. Maywhalen, The Intermediate State, London, 1856; H. M. Luckock, The Intermediate State between Death and Judgment, ib., 1890; T. H. Stockwell, editor, Our Dead: Where are They? A Symposium, ib., 1890; A. Williamson The Intermediate State, ib., 1891; G. S. Barrett, The Intermediate State; the Last Things. ib., 1896· C. H. H. Wright, Intermediate State and Prayers for the Dead, ib. 1900; G. T. Fechner, Little Book of Life after Death, Boston, 1904; S. C. Gayford, Life after Death, chaps. ii-iii., Milwaukee, 1909.
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