Augustine says in the twenty-first book of his work, "The City of God,"
that there are some sins (venial of course) which shall be forgiven in
the next world, and that, consequently, there is a middle state, or
place of purgation in the other life, since no one can enter heaven
having any stain of sin, and surely no one can obtain forgiveness in
hell.
The testimony of St. Paul is very clear on this point of doctrine: "For
no man can lay another foundation but that which is laid; which is
Jesus Christ. Now if any man build on that foundation, gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: every man's work shall be made
manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be
revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort
it is. If any man's work abide, which he had built thereupon, he shall
receive a reward. If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss; _but
he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire_."
* * * * *
In the First Epistle of St. Peter (Chap. iii. 18, 19), we learn that
Christ "being put to death, indeed, in the flesh, but brought to life
by the spirit, in which also He came and preached to those spirits who
were in prison.
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