A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

680 A Source Book for Ancient Church Historyaround which the life of the individual and the authority of thehierarchy could be brought into relation.Additional source material: The works of Gregory the Great,PNF.(a) Cæsarius of Arles, Sermon 104. (MSL, 39:1947, 1949.)Cæsarius presided at the Council of Orange A. D. 529. Hedied in 543. Not a few of his sermons have been mixed upwith those of Augustine, and this sermon is to be found inAppendix to the works of Augustine in the standard editionsof that Father. It should be noted that this conception ofpurgatory is not wholly unlike that of St. Augustine; see hisEnchiridion, chs. 69, 109 (v. supra, § 84); also De Civ. Dei,20:25; 21:13.[622]Ch. 4. By continual prayers and frequent fasts and more generousalms, and especially by forgiveness of those who sin against us,we diligently redeem our sins, lest by chance when collected togetheragainst us at once they make a great mass and overwhelmus. Whatsoever of these sins shall not have been redeemed by usis to be purged by that fire concerning which the Apostle said:“Because it will be revealed by fire, and if any man's work isburned he will suffer loss” (I Cor. 3:15). If in tribulation we donot give thanks to God, if by good works we do not redeem oursins, we will remain so long in that fire of purification 268 untilthe little, trifling sins, as hay, wood, and stubble are consumed.Ch. 8. All saints who serve God truly strive to give themselvesto reading and prayer, and to perseverance in good works, andbuilding no mortal sins and no little sins, that is, wood, hay, and268 The employment of the technical term purgatorium to designate the placeand fires of purification is very much later, and not defined until the thirteenthcentury as the official and technical word, although used long before that timein theological discussion.