RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Nantes Natural Law
from 1888 to 1903. He has written: The Genesis of the Social Conscience (New York, 1897); Ethics and Revelation (1899); History of the Higher Criticism of the New Testament (1900); and Atoning Life (1908).
NASMITH, rie'smith, DAVID: Scotch philanthropist; b. at Glasgow Mar. 21, 1799; d. at Guildford (30 m. s.w. of London) Nov. 17, 1839. He was the originator of city missions, having established the first one, in Glasgow, 1826. From 1821 to 1828 he was secretary to the united benevolent societies of Glasgow, but spent the remainder of his life in propagating his benevolent schemes. With this in view he visited the United States and Canada in 1830, establishing there many missions and associations; and France, in 1832. He founded the London City Mission in 1835, and was its secretary till 1837; in 1837 he formed the British and Foreign Mission for the purpose of unifying and propagating the work of city missions. Bibliography: J. Campbell, Memoirs of David Nasmith,
London, 1844; DNB, xl. 111-112.
NATALIS, na-ta'lis, ALEXANDER (Alexandre Noel) : French Dominican; b. at Rouen Jan. 19, 1639; d. at Paris Aug. 21, 1724. He entered the Dominican order in 1655, became teacher of philosophy and theology in the convent of St. Jacques at Paris, and in 1706 provincial. At the instance of Colbert he wrote his Selecta historice ecclesiastical capita (24 vols., Paris, 1677-86), to which he later appended the history of the Old Testament in six volumes. The work is practically a series of monographs of the most important points of church history, and the treatment is polemic and dogmatic rather than historic, the more modern opponents of Roman Catholicism, especially the Reformed, being attacked. The first volumes won the author high praise at Rome, but so strong was the anti-papal tendency of the later volumes that Innocent XL, by a decree of July 13, 1684, forbade his writings to be read under pain of excommunication. Natalis refused to submit and published a defense in 1699. His history was edited with emendations and dissertations directed against himself by Roncaglia at Lucca in 1734, and was then removed from the Index by Benedict XIII. Other editions appeared at Lucca in 1749 sqq., Venice in 1778 sqq., and Bingen in 1784. Another important work of Natalis is the Theologia dogmatica et moralis (10 vols., Paris, 1693, and often). (G. UhlhornI.)
Bibliography: J. Quetif and J. I5chard, Script, ordinis prcedicatorum, ii. 810 sqq., Paris, 1721; A. Touron, Hist, des hommes illustres de Vordre de S. Dominique, v. 805, 6 vols., ib. 1743-49; Niceron, Memoires, xxiii.
NATHAN: An important prophet of the reign of David whose history is given in II Sam. vii. 1 sqq., xii. 1 sqq.; and I Kings i. In the passage last named, Nathan, the former tutor of the prince (II Sam. xii. 25), joined Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, in influencing David to make Solomon his successor, both by recalling David's promise to Bathsheba to this effect and by informing David of Adonijah's premature assumption of royal power. The other occasion (II Sam. xii. 1 sqq.) in which Nathan appeared most prominently was after the death of David's son by Bathsheba. In this narra-
tive appears the well-known parable told by the prophet to David, who, after pronouncing judgment, received the application of the parable to himself in the words " thou art the man " (II Sam. xii. 7). The parable is apparently an independent account woven into the main story, and there are, accordingly, two accounts, one prophetic and the other more secular. There is, however, no real reason to doubt the historicity of either. The third record concerning Nathan (II Sam. vii.), though showing in its present form traces of Deuteronomic redaction, stands on the same basis of probability as II. Sam. xii. 1 sqq. From these accounts it appears that Nathan was one of the most influential persons at the court of David. (R. Kittel.)
Bibliography: The commentaries on the passages cited; the pertinent sections in the works on Hebrew historygiven under Ahab; and Israel, History of; Vigouroux, Dictionnaire, part xxviii. 1482; DB, iii. 488; EB, iii. 3337- 3338; JE, ix. 176.
NATHANAEL. See Bartholomew.
NATHUSIUS, na-tu'si-us, MARTIN VON: German Lutheran; b. at Althaldensleben (13 m. n.w. of Magdeburg), Saxony, Sept. 24, 1843; d. at Greifswald Mar. 9, 1906. He studied at the universities of Heidelberg, Halle, Tubingen, and Berlin from 1862 to 1867, and was successively assistant preacher at Wernigerode (1869-73), pastor at Quedlinburg (1873-85) and Barmen (1885-88), and professor of practical theology at the University of Greifswald (1888-1906). His principal works are: Timotheus, ein Ratgeber fur junge Theologen in Bildern aus dem Leben (Leipsic, 1881); Naturwissenschaft und Philosophic (Heilbronn, 1883); Katechismus-Predigten (2 vols., Leipsic, 1883-84); Das Wesen der Wissenschaft und ihre Wendung auf die Religion (1885); Die Verfassung der evangelischen Kirche und die neuesten Versuche zu ihrer Verbesserung in Preussen (1888); Mitarbeit der Kirche an der Losung der sozialen Frage (2 vols., 1893-94); Die Kernfrage im Streit fur das Apostolikum (Heilbronn, 1893) ; Die Inspiration der heiligen Schrift und die historische Kritik (1895); Die christlich-soziale Idee der Reformation-Zeit und ihre Vorgeschichte (Giitersloh, 1897); Ueber die wissenschaftliche und religiose Gewissheit (Heilbronn, 1902); and Handbuch des kirchlichen Unterrichts nach Ziel, Inhalt und Form (3 vols., Leipsic, 1903-04).
NATIONAL CATHOLIC CHURCH. See Old Catholics, III., § 2.
NATIONAL COVENANT (1638). See Covenantees, § 3.
NATIVITY OF JESUS CHRIST. See Christmas.
NATURAL LAW: In an ethical sense (for another sense, see Nature, Laws of), those absolute and universally valid imperatives that are innate in the reason of every individual Stoic and necessarily come into conscious- Origin, ness with the development of the mind. This thought originated with the Stoics (see Stoicism). They wished to show that " the good " is not binding because of arbitrary human statute, but because of inner necessity, and to establish, in contrast to the former ethical par-
Natural Law Nature