Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/30

 TRACT

TRADITION

tion of Gen., xi, to (he time of the Babylonian Talmud. Besides, the Bibliral account seems to imply that the tower was within the city hmits, while it is hardly probable that the city limits extended to Borsippa in very ancient times. The historical character of the tower is not impaired by our inabihty to point out its location with certainty.

III. Form of the Toioer of Babel. — The form of the tower must have resembled the constructions which to-day exi.st only in a ruined condition in Babylonia; the more ancient pyramids of Egypt present a vestige of the same form. Cubic blocks of masonry, de- creasing in size, are piled one on top of the other, thus forming separate stories; an inclined plane or stair- way leads from one story to the other. The towers of Ur and Arach contained only two or three stories, but that of Birs-Nimrud numbered .seven, not counting the high platform on which the building was erected. Each story was jxiinted in its own peculiar colour according to the planet to which it was dedicated. Generally the corners of these towers faced the four points of the compass, while in Egypt this position was held by the sides of the jjyramids. On top of these constructions there was a sanctuary, so that they served both as temples and observatories. Their interior consisted of sun-dried clay, but the outer walls were coated with fire-baked brick. The asphalt peculiar to the Babylonian neighbourhood served as mortar; all these details are in keeping with the report of Genesis. Though some writers main- tain that every Babylonian city possessed such a tower, or zikkurat (meaning "pointed" according to Schrader, "raised on high" according to Haupt, "memorial" according to Vigouroux), no complete specimen has been preserved to us. The Tower of Khorsabad is perhaps the best preserved, but Assy- rian sculpture supplements our knowledge of even this construction. The only indication of the time at which the Tower of Babel was erected, we find in the name of Phaleg (Gen., xi, 10-17), the grand- nephew of Heber; this places the date somewhere be- tween 101 and S70 years after the Flood. The limits are so unsatisfactory, because the Greek Version differs in its numbers from the Massoretic text.

Besides the works indicated in the course of the article, see Rawu.vson, The Five Great Monnrchies, II (London. 1862-7, 1878). 534-5: Schbader-Whitehouse, The Cuneiform Inscrip- tions and IheOld Testament. I (London, 1885-8), 106-14; HoBERG, Genesis. 2nd ed. (Freiburg, 1899). 129. For critical view, see Skinnsr, Genesis (New York, 1910), 228 sqq.

A. J. Maas.

Tract. Sec Gradual.

Tractarianism. See Oxford Move.ment.

Tracy, Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de, a viceroy of New France, b. in France, 1603, of noble parents; d. there in 1670. A soldier from youth, he had proved his valour in many battles and won the rank of lieutenant-general of the king's armies. He was no less prudent and wise as a negotiator and or- ganizer. Entrustecl by Louis XIV with a most e.xten- Bive mission and jurisdiction o\-er all the French pos- sessions in the New \\'orld, he first redeemerl Cayenne from the Dutch, restored order in the Antilles, and reached Quebec in 16(55. He had been preceded by the Carignan regiment which had distinguished itself against the Turks in Hungar>- (1664) and was entitled to bear the royal colours. With the concurrence of Courcelles, the newly-appointed governor, and Talon, the famous int<iidaut. he inaugurated a glorious period in the history of New France. To secure peace for the colony war was decided against the Agniers, and in spite of his atlvanced age Tracy commanded the invading army. The year previous he had or- dered the construction of three forts on the Richelieu River, including those of Sore! anil Chambly. The enemies had fled from their villages, which were de-

stroyed, and Tracy returned with nearly all his men. The humiliated Agniers sued for peace and asked for missionaries to instruct them in the Faith. Tracy with his two associates then devoted himself to the organization of the courts of justice and to the pro- motion of agriculture and industrj'. During his ad- ministration were imported the first horses seen in Canada. Tracy's noble anfl conciliator^' conduct en- deared him to the colonists and won the resjiect both of the aborigines and of the authorities of New York. His administration was marked by two chief events full of promise for the prosperity of the colon)-: the abolition of the monopoly of the West India company, which had replaced that of New France, and the con- clusion of a peace with the Iroquois which lasted eighteen years and facilitated several brilliant dis- coveries in the interior of the continent.

Ferland. Histoire (in Canada (Quebec, 1882) ; Garxeau, Hislnire du Canada (Montreal. 1882); C-VAPAIS. Jean Talon (Quebec, 1904); Rochemonteix, Les jesuiles el la NoureUe-France (Paris, 1896).

Lionel Lindsay.

Tradition and Living Magisterium. — The word

tradition (Greek Ta/)d5o<ris) in the cn-lcsiastical sense — which is the only one in which it is u.sed here — refers sometimes to the thing (doctrine, account, or cus- tom) transmitted from one generation to another, sometimes to the organ or mode of the transmission (KTipvyfia iKKKr^aMHTiKhv^ pr/T'licatio ecclesinslica). In the first sense it is an old tradition that Jesus Christ was born on 2.5 December; in the second sense tradition relates that on the road to Calvary a pious woman wiped the face of Jesus. In theological language, which in many circumstances has become current, there is still greater precision and this in countless directions. At first there was question only of tradi- tions claiming a Divine origin, but subsequently there arose questions of oral as distinct from wTitten tradition, in the sen.se that a given doctrine or institu- tion is not dirc'ctly dependent on Holy Scripture as its source but only on the oral teaching of Christ or the Apostles. Finally with regard to the organ of tradition it must be an official organ, a rmigistcrmm, or teaching authority.

Now in this respect there are several points of con- troversy between Catholics and every body of Prot- estants. Is all revealed truth consigned to Holy Scripture? or can it, must it, be admitted that Christ gave to His Apostles to be transmitted to His Church, that the Apostles received either from the very lips of .lesus or from inspuation or Revelation, Divine instructions which they transmitted to the Church and which were not committed to the inspired writ- ings? Must it be admitted that Christ instituted His Church as the official and authentic organ to transmit and explain in virtue of Divine authority the Revela- tion made to men? The Protestant princijilc is: The Bible and nothing but the Bible; the Bible, accord- ing to them, is the sole theological source; there are no revealed truths save the truths contained in the Bible; according to them the Bible is the sole rule of faith: by it and by it alone should all dogmatic ques- tions be solved; it is the only binding authority. Catholics, on the other hand, hold that there may he, that there is in fact, and that there must of necessity be certain revealed truths apart from those contained in the Bible; they hold fin'thermore that Jesus Christ has established in fact, and that to adapt the means to the end He should have established, a living organ as much to transmit Scripture and written Revelation as to place revealed (ruth within reach of everyone always and everywhere. Such are in this respect the two main points of con1ro\ersy between Catholics and so-called orthodox Protestants (as distinguished from liberal Protestants, who admit neither super- natural Revelation nor the authority of the Bible). The other differences are connected with these or