THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
volume of his Etudes critiques sur la Bible, four essays on the Old Testament in the Graf-Wellhausen spirit, following this in 1863 with a similar series of studies on the New Testament. He had already published a number of translations and independent works on philosophy, and a literary history of his native city and its vicinity, as well as his Histoire des doctrines religieuses des Juifs 'pendant les deux siecles anterieures a I'ere chretienne (1860) ; and in his Les Evangiles apocrypkes (1865) and Le Symbole des apotres (1867) his historical and critical studies found their culmination. His last book was his Histoire de Vancienne academie de Montauban (1598- 1659) et du Puylaurens (1660-1685) (1885). He was likewise a close student of Huguenot history, his manuscript collections on this theme filling ten stout volumes; but he is chiefly noteworthy as one of the pioneers in introducing German methods and results to French Protestantism.
(EuGEN LaCHENMANN.)
Bibliography: A life was written by E. Rabaud, Paris, 1888; and a sketch by E. Stapfer is in the Etudes de thiologie et d 'histoire published by the Protestant faculty of theology at Paris at the tercentenary of the institution, Paris, 1901.
NICOLAUS CABASILAS. See Kabasilas. NICOLAUS DE TUDESCHIS. See Panormi-
TANUS.
NICOLE, PIERRE: Port Royalist; b. at Chartres Oct. 13, 1625; d. at Port Royal Nov. 16, 1695. After receiving from his father a thorough preliminary education, he studied philosophy at the College d'Harcourt and then devoted himself to theology. His intention of continuing his studies at the Sorbonne was frustrated by his connections with Port Royal, where he soon became one of the most important teachers. Here he collaborated on the productions of that school, frequently gathered material for other books (as for the " Provincial Letters " of Pascal), and became intimately associated with Antoine Arnaud and especially with Pascal (q.v.). He accompanied Arnaud in all his wanderings until at last, weary of his unsettled life, he besought the archbishop of Paris for permission to return. He thus brought upon himself the bitter reproaches of the Port Royalists, against whom he sought to defend himself in letters and in an " Apology." In 1676 he endeavored to secure priest's orders, but the bishop of Chartres refused to admit him.
Nicole was a prolific writer. With Arnaud he prepared the famous Logique de Port-Royal (Paris, 1659), and also, under the pseudonym of Wendrock, made a Latin translation of Pascal's Provinciales (Cologne, 1658). In La Perpituiti de la foi de I'eglise catholique touchant I'eucharistie, or La Petite Perpetuite (1664), he endeavored to clear Port Royal of the charge of Calvinism, and this work was followed by Perpetuite de la foi de I'eglise catholique sur I'eucharistie, or Grande Perpetuite" (3 vols., 1669-76). Apparently in imitation of the " Provincial Letters," he wrote ten Lettres sur Vhirksie imaginaire, or Les Imaginaires (1664), and eight letters entitled Les Visionaires (1665-66) — both published with his Traiti de la foi humaine (Cologne, 1704). His Essais de morale (14 vols., 1671 sqq.) enjoyed among some
of his contemporaries, such as Madame de SeVign£, an admiration which they no longer elicit. In his polemics against Calvinism Nicole exceeded all other Jansenists in bitterness, as is evinced by his Prijugis legitimes contre le calvinisme (1671), Pr&endus reformes convaincus de schisme (1684), and Unite de I'eglise (1687). He likewise prepared a series of edifying and instructive works, among which may be mentioned : Traite sur I'oraison, or Traiti de la priere (1679); Instructions theologiques sur les sacrements (1700); Instructions theologiques et morales sur le symbole (1706); Instructions theologiques et morales sur I'oraison dominicale, la salutation angelique, la sainte messe et les autres prieres de I'eglise (1706), and Instructions theologiques et morales sur la decalogue (1709). Nicole was neither a deep thinker nor a great character. He was rather a man of vast learning and humanistic spirit, diffident and very averse to controversy. (C. Pfender.)
Bibliography: His life, by Goujet, is in the last volume of the Essais de morale, ut sup. Consult further: J. Besoigne, Hist, de I'abbaye de Port-Royal, vol. v., Cologne, 1752; C. Clemencet, Hist, generate de Port-Royal, Amsterdam, 1765-67; C. A. Sainte-Beuve, Port-Royal, vols, iii.iv., Paris, 1840-59; Lichtenberger, ESR, ix. 634-637.
NICOLL, SIR WILLIAM ROBERTSON: Free Church of Scotland; b. at Lumsden (30 m. n.w. of Aberdeen), Aberdeenshire, Oct. 10, 1851. He was educated at the University of Aberdeen (M.A., 1870) and the Free Church College, Aberdeen, after which he was minister at Dufftown, Banffshire (1874-77), and Kelso, Roxburghshire (1877-85). In 1880 he became the editor of The Household Library of Exposition, and in 1885 of The Expositor, while since 1886 he has edited The Foreign Biblical Library, The Theological Educator, The Expositor's Bible, The Expositor's Greek Testament, The British Weekly, The Bookman, Woman at Home, The British Monthly, and other publications and series. In 1909 he was made a knight. Among his numerous publications special mention may be made of his Calls to Christ (London, 1877) ; Songs of Rest (2 series, Edinburgh and London, 1879-85); The Incarnate Saviour (Edinburgh, 1881); The Lamb of God (1883); Key of the Grave (London, 1893); Ten-Minute Sermons (1894); Literary Anecdotes of the Nineteenth Century (in collaboration with T. J. Wise; 2 vols., 1895-96); The Return to the Cross (1897); The Church's One Foundation: Christ and Recent Criticism (1901); Garden of Nuts: Mystical Expositions with an Essay on Christian Mysticism (1905); Lamp of Sacrifice (1906, sermons); Ian Maclaren: Life of the Rev. John Watson (1908); and My Father: an Aberdeenshire Minister, 1812-91 (1908).
Bibliography: J. F. Stoddart, W. Robertson Nicoll, Editor and Preacher, London, 1903.
NIEBERGALL, ni"ber-gal, FRIEDRICH KARL:
German Protestant; b. at Kirn (40 m. s.w. of Wiesbaden) Mar. 20, 1866. He was educated at the universities of Tubingen, Berlin, and Bonn from 1884 to 1887 (Th. Lie, Giessen, 1902), and after being a pastor in his native city became, in 1903, privat-docent for practical theology, religious psychology, and ethnology at the University of Heidelberg; and in 1908 extraordinary professor of practical theology at Heidelberg. His works include: