A third view of the temporal power was propomided by Fenelon, and is generally described as the " historical theory of the temporal power." According to this, the pope does not possess, whether by direct divine appoint- ment or in virtue of the necessities of his spiritual of- fice, any temporal power whatsoever; but he possesses the plenitude of spiritual power which is required for the government of the Church, and is empowered to en- force it by spiritual penalties, and especially by excom- munication. Although these penalties are purely spir- itual, yet the religious sentiment and awe with which the Church is regarded by many invest them with certain temporal effects. In several countries, as Eng- land (A.D. 859), France, Spain (A.D. 638), and Germany, the forfeiture of certain civil rights was attached, in the
case of private persons, to the spiritual censure of ex- comminiication. The same spirit of the age is seen in the form of the fiath taken at the coronation of the sov- ereign in many countries, by which the monarch swore to be the protector and defender of the sovereign pontiff and the holy Catholic Church — thus making their king- doms feudatorv to the see of Rome. From these and similar indications of the public feeling of the medi.eval time, tlie advocates of this theory of the temporal pow- er infer that orthodoxy and obedience to tlie |iope were accepted as a condition of the tenure of supreme civil authority. On the other hand, it is difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile this theory with the language used by the popes in enforcing their claims to temporal authority, and with the fact that such power continued to be claimed and exercised until very recent times. See Jiaxnxxm, Romanism As It Is; KWiott, I)elineatio7i of Romanism ; and the articles Papacy and States of THK Chckch.
Temporalities of Bishops, in law, are the lay revenues, lands, tenements, and fees belonging to the sees of bishops or archbishops, as they are barons and lords of Parliament, including their baronies. They are defined as all tilings which a bishop hath by livery from the king, as manors, lands, tithes. From the time of Edward I to tlie Reformation, it was customary, when bishops received their temporalities from the king, to renounce in writing all right to the same by virtue of any provision from the pope, and to admit that they re- ceived them from the king alone. The custodj' of these temporalities is said by Blackstone to form part of the king's ordinary revenue, and thus, a vacancy in the bishopric occurring, is a right of the crown, originating in its prerogative in Church matters, the king being, in intendment of law, preserver of all e|iiscopal sees. For the same reason, before the dissolution of religious houses, the sovereign had the custody of the temporali- ties of all such abbeys and priories as were of royal foundation. There is another reason in virtue of which the king possesses this right, which is, that as the suc- cessor is not known, the property of the see would be liable to spoil and devastation. The law, therefore, has wisely given to the king the custod\' of these temporali- ties until a new election, with power to take to himself all intermediate profits, and to present to all preferments falling vacant during the vacancy of the see. This rev- enue cannot be granted to a subject; but the 14 Edward III, Stat, iv, ch. iv, v, empowers the king, on a vacancy occurring, to lease the temporalities to the dean and chapter, with a reservation of all advowsons, escheats, and the like. To remedy the wrongs to the Church perpetrated by former sovereigns, who sometimes kept bishoprics vacant in order to enjoy the possession of their temporalities, and when they did supply the va- cancy compelled the new bishop to purchase back his temporalities at an exorbitant price, Henry I, by char- ter, agreed neither to sell, let to farm, nor take anything from the domains of the Church until the successor was installed. By Magna Charta provision was made that no waste should be committed in the temporalities of the bishoprics, and that neither should the custody of them be sold. At present tliis revenue of the crown is of very small account; for as soon as the new bishop is consecrated and confirmed, he usually receives restitu- tion of his temporalities entire and untouched from his sovereign, to whom he at the same time does homage, and then possesses, which he did not before, a fee sim- ple in his bishopric, and may maintain an action for the profits. — Eadie, Eccles. Cyclop, s. v.
Tempt is used in the Bible in the Latin sense of prove, as a rendering especially of 'iHS, bachun, and TTupd^o), which both signify to test or try. It is applied to various beings in different senses, not always involv- ing an evil purpose wherein the temptation is present- ed to the mind as an inducement to sin. See Tejipta-
TION.
TEMPTATION"
2GS TEMPTATION OF CHRIST
1. God is said to have tempted Abraham by com- maiidiiii; him to offer up his son Isaac ((icn. xxii, 1), iiiteiidiiif; to prove his (iliediciice and faitli, to confirm and streufithen liim by this trial, and to fiirnisli in his l)erson an example and pattern of perfect obedience Cor all succeeding ages. God does not tempt or try men in order to ascertain their tempers and dispositions, as if he were ignorant of them, but to exercise their vir- tue, to purify it, to render it conspicuous to others, to give them an op|iortunity of receiving favors from his liands. When we read in Scripture that (iod proved liis people, whether they would walk in his law or not (Exod. xvi, 4), and that lie permitted false prophets to arise among them, who prophesied vain things to try them whether they would seek the Lord with their whole hearts, we should interpret these expressions by that of James ( i, lo-14 ), " Let no man say when he is tcmptetl, ' 1 am tempted of (iod,' for God camiot be temined with evil, neither teni|iteth be any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed."