There is a tradition that Nathanael was the bride- groom at the marriage of Cana (Calmet), and p]pipha- nius {Adv. Hcer. i, § 223) implies his belief that of the two disciples whom Jesus overtook on the road to Em- maus Nathanael was one.— Smith. The following ad- ditional monographs are extant : Lange, Nath. con- fessio (Lips. 1755); Pignatelli, Be Ajmstolatu Nath. 'Earth. (Par. 1560) ; Robert, Nathanael Barth. (Duaci, 1519) ; Hartmann, Examen Jo. i, 47 (Abooe, 1753). See Bartholojiew.
Nathani'as (NaSan'ae), one of the "sons of Ma- oni" who renounced their Gentile wives taken after the return from Babylon (1 Esdr. ix, 34); evidently the Nathan (q. v.) o'f the Heb. text (Ezra x, 39).
Nathaniel, called in Arabic Ahtl-Barhit Hihat A Huh biir-Malkd, was one of the medical coryphsei of the ^Mohammedan dominions in the 12th century, and was also distinguished as a philosopher and Hebraist, on which account he was designated Wachidul-Zeman, i. e. " the only one of his time." He tried his skill on the
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Took of Ecclesiastes (Koheleth), but his commentarj', wliich is written in Arabic, has never been published; the IMS. is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Isaac ibn-Ezra, son of the great commentator, celebrated Abul-Barkat's commentary on Koheleth in a poem (see Dukes, Kok-be Jizchak, 1848, p. 21 sq.), in which he de- clares that this- Solomonic book will henceforth (A.l). 1143) go ijy the name of him who has so successfully unlocked its meaning. Comp. Griitz, Gesch. d. Juden, vi, 280 »i\.; Zeitschnft der M oi-genUindischen Gesdl- schaft, 18o'.», p. 711 sq. ; Ginsburg, Historical and Crit- ical Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes, p. 58 ; Pdcock, Xofce Miscellanem ad Portam Mosis (London, 174(1). i, 19G, where a specimen of this commentary is given. (lJ.r.)
Na'than - Mel'ech ( Hebrew, Netkan' - Me'lel; Ti'""!"""?, i. e. Xalhan o/* the king; Sept. SaSiuv (ia- oiAa'c), a eunuch (A.V. "chamberlain") in the court of Josiah, by whose chamber at the entrance to the Temple were the horses which the kings of Juilah had dedicated to the sun (2 Kings xxiii, 11). B.C. 628.
Nathus, Fabian, a (ierman divine, flourished in 15()lifniia during the anti-Heformation period of the Kith century. But little is known of his personal his- tory. He was preaching at Prague, holding at tiie same time the professorship of Oriental languages at the university of the Bohemian capital, when the victories of Ferdinand II subjected Bohemia to Romish rule and to Jesuitic interferences, l^p to 1G15 the Bohemians had been favored with Protestant preaching in the Ger- man tongue, out of respect for the elector of Saxony and at his intercession; but the Jesuits, determined that all Protestant ideas should be crushed, caused the Stales to pass an edict forbidding even preaching in German, and consequently brought about also the dismissal of those who had preached in the German ; and on Oct. 29, 1022, the last four Lutheran clergymen who had re- mained in the country were oblig<'d to leave. Among these was Nathus. He went to* Brunswick, Germany, and there died about 1640. Nathus was an able defend- er and propagator of the Reformed doctrines, and de- serves to be ranked among those who suffered martyr- dom for conscience' sake. Although he did not die at the stake, he yet suffered expulsion from the field of his lal)or and separation from the flock which deeply loved him. Sec Pescheck, The Reformation and Anti-Refor- malion in Jiohimia (Lond. 1846, 2 vols. 8vo), ii, 32-33, 414. (J. II.W.)
Nation. This word in the Auth. Ver. generally represents the Heb. "^"la, i. e.^Ae nation as a body politic; in plur. C^ij, esp. of foreign nations, the Gentiles (q. V.) ; usually in the Sept. iSivoc, i^vt], Vulg. gens, gentes. Sometimes it represents the Heb. Ci", which means esp. the People (q.v.), Sept.Xaoc; in poetry, Cxb, D"^53Xb; and in Chald. nsx. It means sometimes all the in- habitants of a particular country (Deut. iv, 34), the country or kingdom itself (Exod. xxxiv, 10; Rev. vii, !)) ; sometimes countrymen, natives of the same stock (Acts xxvi, 4); sometimes the father, head, or original of a people (Gen. xxv, 23). In the prophets the term " nations" is often used as a general name for the hea- then or Gentiles (Isa. ix, 2; comp. ]Matt. iv, 15\ See ETiiNOLOf;v.
National Church. See Cm ikii and State. National Covenant. See Covenant. National Deities. See JIytiiology ; Poly- Tiii;isM.
National Synods. Provincial and national syn- ods have, by iinmeniorial practice of the Roman Catho- lic Cliurcii, tlie right of condemning heresies and er- rors, and of correcting abuses of all kinds in particular churches. Paul of Samosata, Photinus, Sabellius, Arius, Eustathius, Apollinaris, the Donatists, Pelagians, etc..
were all condemned in particular councils in the first instance. The particular councils of Aries, Orange, Car- thage, Toledo, (iangra, etc., pronounced judgments in controversies of faith ; not to speak of more recent de cisions of the same kind. The objection of Bossuet, who found fault with the princiiile of the English Ref- ormation, viz., that every national Church was a com- plete body in itself, and might examine and reform errors and corruptions in doctrine and worship, falls therefore to the ground, in view of the practice of his own Church. Sec Bossuet, Variations ; Fleury, Hist. 1. 157, s. 37; Palmer, On the Church, i, 417; Waicott, Ha- cred A rchwol, s. v. ; Aschbach, Kirchen-Lerikon, s. v. National Synoden. See Synods. (J, N. P.)