It is a remarkable fact that the great cities of Ar- gob. famed at the time of the Exodus for their strength, exist still. The houses in many of them are perfect. The massive city walls are standing ; and the streets, though long silent and deserted, are in some places com- lilete as those of a modern town. The city gates, and the doors and roofs of the houses, are all of stone, bear- ing the marks of the most remote anticpiity. It is not too much to say that, in an antiquarian point of view, Trachon is one of the most interesting provinces in Palestine (Porter, Bashaug Giant Cities; Burckhardt, Tnn-e/g in Si/ri(t ; Graham, in the Journal of U. (i. S. vol. xxviii; and Cainb. E.tga;/s, 18;)8; Wetzstein, /^ezae- hericht iiber Han ran mid die Tntc/xmen'). Such as desire to compare with the above account the views previous- Iv set forth by geographers may consult Lightfoot, lor. fit. ; Keland, Paltest. p. 108 sq. ; Cellarius, Geo(jr. Ant. ii, 617 sq. — Kitto. See Argou.
Tract, a psalm, or portion of a psalm, sung in the Latin mass instead of the Gradual, on fixed days, from Septuagesima to Piaster, after the Epistle. At the time at which the Church is commemorating the passion of our Lord, this Tract is slowly chanted in lieu of the joy- ous (iradual. It is called the Tract, as sotne ritualistic writers affirm, because it is drairn out in a slow and sol- emn strain. It is said that the psalm or hymn chant- ed by one voice was the Tract, and when the singer was interrupted by the choir his part was known as the rerdcle, and the portions allotted to them were called responsories. See Lee, Gloss, of Liturg. Terms, s. v.; AA'alcott, Sac. A i-chcvol. s. v.
Tractarianism. See English Church; Ox- FOi;i) Tracts; Piseyism.
Tractator, the name given in the early Church to preachers and expositors of Scri|)tiire; his sermon or treatise being called Tractatus. See Bingham, Christ. Antiq. bk, xiv, ch. iv, § 1.
Tractatus, the Latin name for a sermon, discourse, etc.
Tractoriae, a name sometimes given to the circu- lar letters of metropolitans summoning the bishops to a council. These circular letters were a legal summons, which no bishop of the province might disobey under pain of suspension, or some such canonical censure. See Bingham, Christ, Antiq. bk. ii, ch. xvi, § 17.
Tracts and Tract Sociktiks. The term tract, although etymologically signifying something drawn out (Lat. tractus), has long been employed in the Eng- lish language to designate a short or condensed treatise in print. It has primary reference to the form of pub- lication, and is usually applied only to unbound sheets or pamphlets. Thus, a treatise on any topic may be published either in a book or tract form, the tract being much cheaper than the book, but also much more lia- ble to be injured or destroyed. While many political, scientific, and other tracts have been published, yet the vast majority of publications knowiT' as tracts are of a religious character. So generally is this true that the word tract used without qualification rarely suggests any other idea than that of a brief religious treatise or appeal. To some extent the idea has been employed by propagandists of error, but far more generally by lovers of truth and by persons willing to make sacrifices
for its promotion. Had only miscellaneous tracts been [niblished, or had the publication of tracts on religious subjects only taken place in an accidental or unsystem- atic manner, there would have been no occasion for this article.
I. Occasion and Character of the Tract Movement. — There has, in fact, arisen a great Christian enterprise having for its object the publication and dissemination of religious tracts. This enterprise, like the (iosjKl it- self and other of its auxiliaries, has from small begin- nings grown to vast proportions an<l commanding in- fluence. Although its history is chiefly limited to the last one hundred years, it has already come to be con- sidered one of the cardinal agencies of Christian propa- gandism, taking ranlvwith the missionary and Sunday- school enterprises, and serving as a powerful auxiliary to both. Although asserting no S|)ccific divine appoint- ment, it nevertheless claims to be authorized by in- spired analogies. The sacred books both of the Old and the New Testaments were issued and circulated as separate treatises or tracts; so that the Bible itself, in its most approved modern form, may be said to be a bound volume of tracts.
The principle involved is that of giving truth a per- manent and available expression in written or printed language, thus enabling it to survive the voice of the living teacher, and to reach persons and places to which he could never have access. God, from the beginning, appointed language as the medium of communication between himself and man, as well as between man and man. He spoke to our race, not only through the hear- ing of the ear, but also through the perceptions of the eye, thus consecrating both spoken and written language to the office of religious instruction. In giving a writ- ten law, he not only provided for the moral giddance of the generation to whom it was first addressed, but for all subsequent ages, while he also continued to teach and admonUh men b}' the voice and the pen of proph- ets and holy men in successive periods. As a counter- part of the spoken language to be used in preaching, the chosen disciples of our Lord were inspired to write nar- ratives of the life, miracles, and death of him who was the eternal Word, together with the acts and letters of the apostles embodying the instructions which they had personally received from the Lord himself, and which were thus handed down to those who should come after them. Spoken language has the advantage of instant readiness, wherever there is a tongue to speak and an ear to hear. It can also be varied with circumstances, and, adapted to the special wants and changing per- ceptions of those to whom it is addressed. On the other hand, written language is availalile at all times and in all places. It can be cheaply midtiplied and scattered on the wings of the wind. It also endures from age to age, while living speakers die. Great as was the per- sonal influence of the apostles through the agency of spoken language, the influence of their writings has been infinitely greater. Their voices expired with their nat- ural life, but their written speech was immortal. It sur- vived all persecutions. It became embodied in many languages, and was diffused in every direction. It has come down through the centuries. It has been taken up by the modern printing-press, and having been trans- lated into hundreiis of tongues and dialects, is now mul- tiplied more rafiidly than ever before for the benefit of the present and succeeding generations. By this adjust- ment of Providence, the apostles, though dead, yet speak, and will continue to speak to increasing millions while the world endures; and those who read their writings may not only receive their teachings, but become par- takers and propagators of like precious faith. They may echo the truth which has made them free in their own forms of expression and with new adaptations to the ever-changing circumstances of humanity.