Tozer, Henry, a learned Puritan divine, was born at North Tawton, Devonshire, in 1002; was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, and was chosen fellow in 1623. Having taken orders, he was engaged in moder- ating, reading to novices, and lecturing in the chapel. He was adverse to overturning the establishment of the Church, and in 1043 declined to be one of the assembly of divines. He remained at Oxford, where he preached at Christ Church before the king, and at St. jMary's be- fore the Parliament. He was appointed in 104i) to take his degree of D.l>., but declined. Dr. Hakewell, the rector, having left the college, the government devolved on Mr. Tozer, as sid3-rector, who manfully opposed the illegality of the parliamentary visitation, and maintained the rights and privileges of the college. In March, 1047- 48, he was cited before the parliamentary visitors to an- swer the charge of "continuing tlie common prayer in the college after the ordinance for the directory (the new form) came in force; also for having sent for and admonished one of tiie house for refusing to attend the chapel prayers on that account." He replied, in effect, "that these matters referred to the discipline of the college, and that they could be submitted to no other visitors than those mentioned in the statutes," meaning the bishop of Exeter. The visitors ordered him to be ejected, but Dr. I'ozer continued to keep possession of the college for some time, and they expelled him from the college and university in June, 1048. He refused to surrender the keys of the college, there being no rector to whom he could legally give them : as a consecjuence he was imprisone<l. After a while he was allowed to remain in his rooms in the college, and to enjoy the profits of a travelling fellowship for three years. On the strength of this he went to Holland and became minister to the FLnglish merchants at Rotterdam. He died there Sept. 11, 1050. Mr. Tozer published a few occasional sermons. Directions for a Godly Life, etc. (1028. 8vo) : — Dicta, et Facta Christi ex quatuor Evan- gelistis collecta (1034, 8vo). See Chalmers, Bioy, Diet, s. V.
Trachoni'tis (Tpa-)(ioi~iTtQ) is mentioned in the ScriptiuTS f)nly in describing the political divisions of Palestine at the time of .Jolin the Baptist's first public appearance: " Philip was then tetrarch of Iturrea and the reyion {j^wpac) of Trachimitis" (Ltd<e iii, 1). Al- though Trachonitis was a distinct and well-defined prov- ince, yet it a|ipears that in this passage the phrase " re- gion of Trachonitis" is used in a wider sense, and in- cluded two or three other adjoining provinces. As con- siderable misapprehension lias existed among geogra- phers regarding Trachonitis, and as its exact position and boundaries were first clearly ascertained by the re- searches of recent writers, it may be well in this place
TRACHONITIS
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TRACHONITIS
to ff'we a brief resume of the ancient notices of the province, an4 then to show liow they can be applied in setting aside modern errors and establishing correct views.
Josephus states that Uz, the son of Aram, founded Trachonitis and Damascus, which "lay between Pales- tine and Coele-Syria" {Atit. i, G, 4). His next reference to it is when it was held by Zeiiodorns, the bandit chief. Then its inhabitants made frequent raids, as their suc- cessors do still. u|ion the terriuirics of Damascus (Atit. XV, 10, 1). Augustus took it from /enodorus, and gave it to Herod the (Jreat. on condition that he should re- press the robbers (.1)//. xvi, 9, 1). Herod bequeathed it to his son Philip, and his will was confirmed by Cx- sar ( War, ii, G, 3). This is the Philip referred to in Luke iii, 1. At a later period it passed into the hands of Herod Agrippa ( War, iii, 3, 5). After the conquest of this part of Syria by Cornelius Palma, in the begin- ning of the '2d century, we hear no more of Trachonitis.
From various incidental remarks and descriptions in Josephus's writings, the jiosition of 'J'rachonitis in rela- tion to the other 'I'ransjordanic provinces may be ascer- tained. It lay on the east of tiaulonitis, while it bor- dered on both Auranitis and I?atana?a (War, iv, 1, 1; i, 20, 4), It extended fartlier north than Gaulonitis, reaching to the territory of Damascus (.4;^/. xv, 10, 3, and 10, 1 ; War, iii, 10, 7). Ptolemy locates the Trach- onitic Arabs along the base of jNIount Alsadamus, and he inchuies this mountain in the province of Batana;a, of which Saccjea was a chief toAvn (Gcof/r. v, 15). Strabo states that there were two Trachons (pro Tpaxuiint;), and he groups Damascus and Trachon together, and states that the latter country is rugged and wild, and the people daring robbers (Geor/r. xvi, 11). Jerome, speaking of Kenath, calls it a city of Trachonitis near Bozrah (6'«om<^s^s. v. "Canath"); and the writers of the Talmud extend Trachon as far as Bozrah (Lightfoot. Opp, ii, 473; comp. Jerome, Onomast. s. v. "Iturjca;" Keland, PaUest. p. 109 sq.).
From these statements, compared with the results of modern research, the exact position and boundaries of this ancient pri)vince can be determined. It extended from the southern confines of Damascus, near the bank of the Kiver Awaj (Pharpar), on the north, to Busrah (Rostra and Bozrah), on the south. Bozrah was the capital of Auranitis, and consequently that province lay along the southern end of Trachon. The province of (Jaulanitis (now .laulau) was its western boundary. Ba- tanrea has been identified with Ard el-Bathanyeh, which embraces the whole ridge of Jebel Haur.an, at whose western base lie the splendid ruins of Kenath, one of the ancient cities of Trachon (Jerome, Onomusf. s. v. "Canatli," " Kenath"). Consequently the ridge of Jebel Hauran formed the eastern boundary of Trachon, which extended southward to Busrah in the plain, near the south-western extremity of the range (Porter, Damascus, i\, 2b9 .sq.; also in .Jmnnal of Sac. Lit. for July, 1854). The region thus marked out embraces the modern dis- trict ot the /.pjah, -which may be considered the nucleus of Trachonitis; also the smooth plain extending from its northern border to the ranges of Khiyarah and Ma- ma. The rocky strip of land running along the west- ern base of Jeliel Hauran, and separating the mountain- range from the smooth expanse of Auranitis, was like- wise incliide<l in Trachonitis. This may explain Stra- bo's two Trachons. In the ruins of Musmeih, on the northern edge of Lejah, Bnrckhardt discovered a (Jreek inscription which proves that that city was Phieno, the ancient metropolis of Trachon {Travels in Syria, p. 117; see also Pn-facp, p. xi).