land. Perhaps, therefore, it was a piece of mere crossness in Naboth to refuse, in such uncourtly terms, not only to sell, but even to exchange, his vineyard with King Ahab. (1Kings 21. 7.) At the same time it is impossible to vindicate the despotic measure to which the barbarous wife of this too obsequious monarch had recourse in order to obtain it; for certainly Naboth was not obliged to exchange his vineyard unless he chose." Roberts says, "People in England will scarcely be able to appreciate the value which the Orientals place on a garden. The food of many of them consists of vegetables, roots, and fruits; their medicines also being indigenous, are most of them produced in their gardens. Here they have their fine fruit-trees, and the constant shade; and here they have their wells and places for bathing. See the proprietor, in his undress, walking around his little domain; his fence or wall is so high, no one can overlook him; he strolls about to smoke his shroot, to pick up the fruit, and cull the flowers; he cares not for the world; his soul is satisfied with the scenes around him. Ahab wished to have Naboth's garden; but how could he part with the inheritance' of his fathers?' There was scarcely a tree which had not some pleasing associations connected with it: one was planted by the hand of a beloved ancestor, another in memory of some great event; the water he drank, and the fruit he ate, were from the same sources as those which refreshed his fathers. How then, could he, in disobedience to God's command, and in violation of all those tender feelings, give up his garden to Ahab? To part with such a place is to the people of the East like parting with life itself."

In reference to the conduct of Jezebel, (v. 8,) "So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in the city dwelling with Naboth," Roberts remarks, "At this day, in the East, not a female in ten thousand is acquainted with the art of writing; and I think it probable that Ahab's affectionate queen did not write the letters with her own hand, but that

she caused it to be done by others. It is not unlikely

that the state of female education in modern times is precisely the same as that of antiquity; for I do not recollect any female in the Scriptures, excepting Jezebel, who is mentioned as being concerned in the writing of letters." The very ancient custom of sealing despatches with a seal or signet, is still retained in the East.

As Naboth, according to verse 10, was executed as a blasphemer and a traitor, his property did not go to his relations, but, as had been intended, to the king. In

Persia and Turkey, at the present day, the property of great men who are executed, upon whatever charge, falls to the public treasury, or the governors of the province seize upon it.

NACIION, the name of a threshing-floor, probably so called from the name of its proprietor, where Uzzah was struck with death for irreverently touching the ark. (2Sam. 6. 6.) This place was either in Jerusalem or very near it, and near the house of Obed-edom, in that city.

I. NADAB, was the son of Aaron and the brother of Abihu, who, offering incense with strange or common fire, instead of that which had been miraculously kindled upon the altar of burnt offering, was consumed, together with his brother. (Levit. 10. 1,2.) See ABIHU.

II. The son of Jeroboam I., king of Israel, was a wicked prince, who followed the evil example of his father. After reigning two years, he was assassinated by Baasha. (1 Kings 15. 25-27.)

NAHASH, 】 (1Sam. 1. 11,) was a king of the Ammonites, who, besieging Jabesh Gilead, was defeated and killed by Saul. The mutilating barbarity proposed to the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead by Nahash, "that I may thrust out all your right eyes," is a practice that was formerly very common in the East. Mr. Hanway, in his Journey in Persia, gives several instances of it: "As we approached Astrabad, we met several armed horsemen carrying home the peasants, whose eyes had been put out, the blood yet running down their faces." II. Another king of the Ammonites, also named Nahash, is mentioned, in 2Samuel 10. 2, as having shown kindness to David.

III. Nahash, the father of Abigail and Zeruiah, the mothers of Amasa and Joab, is thought to be the same as Jesse, the father of David. (Comp. 2Sam. 17. 25 and 1 Chron. 2. 13,15,16.)

NAIOR, (Gen. 11. 26,) the son of Terah, and brother of Abraham, married Milcah, the daughter of Haran, by whom he had several sons. Nalor fixed his habitation at Haran, which is therefore called the city of Nahor. (Gen. 11. 29; 22. 20; 24. 10.)

NAHUM, the seventh of the minor prophets, is supposed to have been a native of Elkosh or Elkosha, a village in Galilee, but to have belonged to the tribe of Simeon. There is much uncertainty concerning the precise time when he lived; some making him contemporary with Jotham, others with Manasseh, and others with Josiah. The more probable opinion is that which places him between the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, about the year 715 before the Christian æra; and as the design of this prophet is to denounce ruin upon Nineveh and the Assyrians, for their cruel tyranny over the Israelites, and as the captivity of the ten tribes took place in the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, (2Kings 17. 6, compared with 2Kings 18. 9-11,) it is most likely that Nahum prophesied against the Assyrians for the comfort of the people of God towards the close of Hezekiah's reign, and not long after the subversion of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser. The prophecy is one entire poem, which, opening with a sublime description of the justice and power of God tempered by long suffering and goodness, (1. 1-8,) foretels the destruction of Sennacherib's forces, and the subversion of the Assyrian empire, (v. 9-12,) together with the deliverance of Hezekiah and the death of Sennacherib. (v. 13-15.) The destruction of Nineveh is then predicted, and described with singular minuteness. (ch. 2. 3.) This prophecy, Archbishop Newcome observes, was highly interesting to the Jews, as the Assyrians had often ravaged their country, and had recently destroyed the kingdom of Israel.

"Of all the minor prophets," says Bishop Lowth, "none seems to equal Nahum in sublimity, ardour, and boldness. His language is pure; and the exordium of his prophecy, which forms a regular and perfect poem, is not merely magnificent, it is truly majestic. The preparation for the destruction of Nineveh, and the description of its downfal and desolation, are expressed in the most vivid colours, and with images that are truly pathetic and sublime."

NAIL. The word "yathid, used in Judges 4. 21,22, in describing the mode of Sisera's death, signifies a tent pin: "Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples,

NAIL

and fastened it into the ground; (for he was fast asleep, and weary:) so he died."

Shaw, describing the tents of the Bedouin Arabs, says, "These tents are kept firm and steady, by bracing or stretching down their eaves with cords tied down to hooked wooden pins well-pointed, which they drive into the ground with a mallet; one of these pins answering to the nail, as the mallet does to the hammer, which Jael used in fastening to the ground the temples of Sisera." The interior of Oriental houses is furnished with a set of spikes, nails, or large pegs fixed in the walls of the house, upon which they hang up the moveables and utensils in common use that belong to the room. These nails are not driven into the walls with a hammer, but are fixed there when the house is building; for if the walls are of brick, they are too hard, or if they consist of clay too soft, to admit the force of the hammer. The spikes, which are so contrived as to strengthen the walls, by binding the parts together, as well as to serve for convenience, are large, with square heads like dice, and bent at the ends so as to make them cramp-irons. They commonly place them at the windows and doors, in order to hang upon them when they choose, veils and curtains, although they place them in other parts of the room, to hang up other things of various kinds. These nails were in use among the Jews, and their importance may be inferred from the promise of the Lord to Eliakim, "I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place,” (Isai. 22. 23;) and it is evident from the words of the prophet, that it was common in his time to suspend upon them the utensils belonging to the apartment: “Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?" (Ezek. 15. 3.) The word for a nail of this sort is the same which denotes the stake or large pin of iron which fastened down to the ground the cords of their tents. These nails, therefore, were of necessary and common use, and of no small importance, in all their apartments. See HOUSE.

Other allusions occur in Scripture to these instruments, of which one or two may suffice: "Grace hath been showed from the Lord our God," says Ezra, "to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place," (Ezra 9. 8,) or, as explained in the margin, "a constant and sure abode." The dignity and propriety of the metaphor will appear from the use which the prophet Zechariah makes of it: "Out of him cometh forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together." (Zech. 10. 4.) The whole form of government, both in church and state, which the chosen people of God enjoyed, was the contrivance of his wisdom and the gift of his bounty; the foundations upon which it rested, the bonds which kept the several parts together, its means of defence, were all the fruits of distinguishing goodness; even the oppressors of his people were a rod of correction in the hand of Jehovah, to convince them of sin and restore them to his service.

Roberts says, in India, "When a man in power has given a situation to another, it is said of the favoured individual, 'He is fastened as a nail. Yes, his situation is fixed, he will not be moved.' "What! has Tamban lost his glory? I thought he had been fastened as a nail.'

"The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.' (Eccl. 12. 11.) In India people remarks, 'The words of that judge are quite certain; they are like the driven nails.' I have heard all he has to say, and the effect on my mind is like a nail driven home.' 'What a speaker! all his words are nails; who will draw them out again?"

NAIN, Naiv, was a small city or town of Galilee, not far from Nazareth, at the gates of which Our Saviour raised to life a widow's only son. (Luke 7. 11-15.) Eusebius places it about two miles to the south of Mount Tabor; and the Jewish writers speak of a town of this name in the tribe of Issachar, and describe it as so called from its pleasantness. It is now a decayed village, containing between one and two hundred inhabitants. From its situation on the declivity of a mountain, "the scene of that miracle must have been rendered more striking as the funeral procession passed slowly out of the gate down the steep, on the bold breast of which,” Mr. Carne says, "the remains of the place now stand.”

NAKED, NAKEDNESS, Dy arom, (Gen. 2. 25.) Besides the ordinary and literal meaning, these terms sometimes signify, put to shame, stripped of resources, void of succour, disarmed. Thus in Jeremiah 49. 10, "I have made Esau bare," &c., signifies the destruction of the Edomites, God having exposed them defenceless to their invaders. The "nakedness of a land," (Gen. 42. 9,) signifies the weak and ruined parts of it where the country lies most open and exposed to danger. "Naked," is also put for discovered, known, manifest. So in Job 26, 6, "Hell is naked before him;" the unseen state of the dead is open to the eyes of God. St. Paul says in the same sense, "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." (Heb. 4. 13.) Nakedness also signifies sin or folly. Thus in Genesis 3. 7, it is taken for sin in general; in Exodus 32. 25; 2Chronicles 28. 19; Ezekiel 16. 36, is put for idolatry; and elsewhere in the Scriptures for all kinds of vice, but idolatry in particular, and therefore to be in the highest degree naked, is to be guilty of idolatry.

There is an admonition in Revelation 16. 15, expressed in these terms: "Behold, I come as a thief; blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked," that is, Let all who would faithfully persevere, watch over themselves, to maintain their purity and integrity, lest when Christ comes they be exposed to disgrace, and have no covering for their sin and folly.

Nakedness is sometimes put for being partly undressed, that is, stripped of the upper garment, wearing only an under garment. Thus Saul continued naked among the prophets; that is, having only his under garment on. Isaiah received orders from the Lord to go naked; that is, clothed as a slave; half clad: in this sense also it is said Peter was naked, (John 21. 7;) and St. Paul says that he was “in cold and nakedness;" that is, in poverty and want of suitable raiment. (2Cor. 11. 27.)

NAME, shem, ovoμa. A name among the Hebrews was given to the male child at the time of its circumcision, but it is probable previous to the introduction of that rite, that the name was given immediately after its birth, as it had in many instances reference to the circumstances of his birth, or some peculiarities in the history of the family to which the child belonged. (Gen. 16. 11; 25. 25,26; Exod. 2. 10; 18. 3,4.) Sometimes the name had a prophetic meaning, (Isai. 7. 14; 8. 3; Hosea 1. 4,6,9; Matt. 1. 21; Luke 1. 13,60,63;) sometimes the name was a compound one, part being the name of the Deity, as Samuel, Adonijah, Josedech; among idolatrous nations part was the name of an idol, as Ethbaal, Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar, &c.

The Jews appear to have had ordinarily but one name, but sometimes a second was added from their country, as Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, (Matt. 10. 4,) but more frequently from their assuming a new and different name upon particular occurrences in life. (2Chron. 36. 4; 2Kings 24. 17; John 1. 42.) The Lord, when announcing to the patriarch the renewal of his covenant with him, changed his name from Abram to Abraham, (Gen. 17.5,) and kings and princes also often changed the names of those who held offices under them, particularly when they were taken into their employ, and when subsequently they were elevated to some new station with additional honours. (Gen. 41. 45; 2Kings 23. 34; 24. 17; Dan. 1.6,7; Mark 3. 17; John 1. 42.) Hence a name, a new name, occurs figuratively, as a token or proof of distinction and honour, in Philippians 2. 9; Hebrews 1. 4; Revelation 2. 17.

The inhabitants of the East very frequently change their names, and sometimes do it for very slight reasons. This accounts for the fact of so many persons having two names in Scripture. (Judges 6. 32; Ruth 1. 20. 21; 1Sam. 14.49.) It was customary with the Jews during the period comprised in the Evangelical history, when travelling into foreign countries, or familiarly conversing with the Greeks and Romans, to assume a Greek or Latin name of great affinity, and sometimes of the very same signification, with that of their own country, by which name they were usually called among the Gentiles. So Thomas was called Didymus, (John 11. 16); the one a Syriac and the other a Greek word, but both signifying a twin." (Acts 1. 23; 12. 12; Col. 4. 11.) Sometimes proper names are translated into other languages, losing their original form while they preserve their signification. This appears to have been the case with the proper names which occur in the first eleven chapters of Genesis, and which were translated into Hebrew from a more ancient source.

To be called by the name of any one, signifies to belong to, to be the property of, or to be in subjection to, that person whose name is called upon the other. (Gen. 48. 16.) Thus, to be called by the name of God, is to be accounted his servant, to be appropriated to Him, and separated from the heathen world. (Deut. 28. 10; 2Chron. 7. 14; Acts 15. 17.) Names of men are sometimes taken for the men themselves, as in Acts 1. 15. In the denunciation, "Woe to them..... which are named chief of the nations," (Amos 6. 1,) the Hebrew word implies an allusion to the custom of marking a name or character by punctures: and thence applies to the idolatrous Israelites, who called themselves, not after their religious ancestors, but after the chief of the Gentile nations with whom they intermarried contrary to the law.

of God, when He appeared to him. (Exod. 3. 13,) and in Judges 13. 17, Manoah says to the Angel, “What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass, we may do thee honour?" an expression probably originating in this, that when God appeared by vision, dream, or miracle to the patriarchs, they noted the place, and commemorated the event by some solemn acts of devotion, and the imposition of a name, as in Genesis 12. 7,8; 28. 18,19. And so in regard to false deities; wherever they were supposed to have performed any thing memorable, or wherever they were understood to preside and to favour their votaries, there a monument was raised, and their names invoked with suitable solemnities. Hence among Jewish as well as heathen writers, to name, is the same as to invoke in divine worship. God often complains that the false prophets prophesied in his name, (Jerem. 14. 14,15; 27. 15;) and Our Lord says, (Matt. 7. 22,) that in the day of judgment many shall say, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?" He also says, (Mark 9. 41,) that whosoever shall give a cup of cold water in his name, shall not lose his reward; and he that receives a prophet or a just man in the name (character) of a prophet or a just man, shall receive a recompense in proportion. (Matt. 10. 41.) In all these instances the name is put for the person, for his commission, his services, his authority, or his character.

Of the Messiah it is said, in Revelation 19. 16, "And he hath in his vesture and his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords." In illustration of this it may be remarked, that it appears to have been a custom among several ancient nations, to adorn the images of their deities, princes, victors at their public games, and other eminent persons, with inscriptions expressive of their names, characters, titles, or some circumstance which might contribute to their honour.

"To raise up the name of the dead,” (Ruth 4. 5,10,) is said of the brother of a man who died without children, when his brother married the widow of the deceased, and revived his name in Israel, and the children were deemed to be children of the deceased. (See LEVIRATE.) In a contrary sense to this, to blot out the name of any one, is to exterminate his memory; to extirpate his race, his children, works, and in general whatever may continue his name on the earth. (Psalm 9. 5; Prov. 10. 7; Isai. 4. 1.)

The Orientals, in some instances, in order to distinguish themselves from others of the same name, add to their own name the name of their father, grandfather, and even great grandfather; and names are frequently given to preserve the remembrance of particular circumstances, and often as contrasts to the character and condition of those on whom they were imposed. Sir William Ouseley, in his Travels in Persia, relates, " Among the people of the house, who attended us here, was a Hhabshi, or Abyssinian slave, an old man, of hideous deformity, entitled Almas, or the diamond. And I observed that at Shiraz, Fassa, and other towns, the African slaves were distinguished by flowery names or epithets, in proportion to their natural ugliness. Thus I have known Yasmin, the jessamine; Sumbal, the hyacinth; Jauher, the jewel; and Makbul, the pleasing or agreeable."

mention the name Jesseans, as one of the first distinctive appellations with which the Church was acquainted; but

it does not exactly appear by whom, or in what sense, this title was applied.

“Another general name, descriptive of men's professed relation to the Head of the spiritual body, which was introduced at a very early period, soon gained a preference over all others, and was universally adopted. The disciples were called by that title which has prevailed ever since-Christians. See CHRISTIANS.

"The name Catholici, or Catholics, denoting an adherence to the universal faith, was introduced after the rise and spread of sects which maintained peculiar opinions, and separated themselves from the general body. It is obvious that this name would be claimed by all persons who supposed that their faith was that of the earliest ages of the Church, and such as ought to be, at all times, universal.

"Ecclesiastici, or members of the Church, is another name adopted on the same ground, and is of frequent occurrence in the writings of Eusebius, Origen, Epiphanius, and Cyril of Jerusalem. This name was at first applied to Christians in general, though afterwards restricted to the clerical body.

"Dogmatici, or professors of the true Christian doctrine. This was also a term of general application, not confined to Christian teachers. In opposition to the Gnostics, commonly so called, the early Christians sometimes styled themselves the true Gnostics, as being in possession of real knowledge, derived from the pure source, and not corrupted by human additions. The Greek word ixous, ichthys, composed of the initials of the Greek words for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour, Ιησους Χριστος Θεου ύιος Σωτηρ, and signifying in that language a fish, was a symbolical term, in conventional use chiefly during the periods of persecution. Hence, and with allusion to the water of baptism, the early Christians sometimes called themselves Pisciculi, or fishes.

"The Jews and heathen, in their dislike of Christianity, took every opportunity of representing its professors as deserving of hatred or contempt. And hence various terms of reproach and ridicule were commonly applied to Christians in the earliest period of the Church. The Romans at first regarded the followers of Christ as merely a Jewish sect, like the Pharisees, Sadducees, or Essenes, and hence they contented themselves with calling them by the common appellation of Jews.

"Christians were also entitled Nazarenes by the Jews, and from them by the Gentiles also. (Luke 4. 34; Acts 24. 5.) There seems to have been a sect entitled Nazarenes, Nagapaior, who observed circumcision, and other Mosaic rites, while they professed the Christian religion; and Epiphanius supposes that these men were especially referred to in an imprecation which the Jews repeated in their synagogues, three times a day: 'Send thy curse, O God, upon the Nazarenes.' But Jerome affirms that this imprecation was directed against Christians in general. Another name of reproach was Galilæans. This may have originated from the use of the word in Acts 2. 7; but ecclesiastical writers derive the common application of the term from the practice or express command of Julian the Apostate. Theodoret says that Julian's last words were, 'Thou hast conquered, O Galilæan.'

"The Romans sometimes scoffed at the Christians under the title of Grecian Impostors; a term derived from the practice of some Christians, who used to wear the Grecian pallium, instead of the Roman toga.

"There were many other reproachful names which were peculiar to individual writers, or were applied only in particular countries or on particular occasions."

In the fourth century it appears that baptized adults

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sometimes retained the names which they had previously borne, as in the cases of Constantine, Ambrose, Augustin, Gregory, and others. But we find also cases in which new names were given to adults at baptism. Thus we read that the bishop Stephanus, in baptizing two young persons, named Adrias and Paulina, gave to the former the new name of Leo, and called the latter Maria. When the same bishop baptized Nemesius and his daughter, the former retained his old name, but the latter was called by a new name, Lucilla. When the Emperor Theodosius was about to marry Athenais, daughter of Leontius the sophist, the intended bride was baptized by the bishop Atticus, and received on that occasion the name Eudokia, by which she is known in history. When Peter Balsamus was asked his name by the bishop Severus, he replied, 'My surname is Balsamus, but my spiritual name, which I received at my baptism, is Peter.'

"As long as the custom of previous catechetical instruction and preparation continued, the name appears to have been fixed some time before the administration of baptism. And to this may perhaps be referred the custom, often mentioned by ecclesiastical writers, of entering the names of candidates in the baptismal register. According to Dionysius, an entry was made of the name of the sponsor, as well as that of the person to be baptized. The name was usually fixed and given by the party baptized, if an adult, or by the parents or sponsors in case of infant baptism. The officiating minister possessed the power of a veto if he disapproved of the name imposed, as appears from several canons. The Church required that the name given in baptism should express some character of the Christian religion, or should relate to some Christian virtue or duty; grounding this requisition upon the practice of Our Saviour and his Apostles, and with reference to James 2. 7, compared with 1 Peter 4. 14-16, Chrysostom says that the names of newlyadmitted members of the Church ought to refer not to their ancestors, however celebrated, but to those holy persons who are the patterns of godliness and virtue. On this principle, the names most commonly given in baptism were those of apostles, saints, and martyrs; and of these names Peter, Paul, and John were especial favourites. Other names, also, expressive of Christian graces in the abstract, were frequently adopted, such as Eusebius, Eusebia, Pius, Fidus, Fidelis, Charitas, Gratianus, Innocentius. Some names bore reference to the stated seasons of baptism, as Natalis, Epiphanius, Paschasius, Paschalis. It has been supposed that the names of animals, such as Leo, Asellus, Pecorius, Ursula, Columba, Columbanus, were adopted in token of Christian humility. And perhaps the names of heathen gods, or those referring to them, such as Mercurius, Janus, Venerius, Apollinaris, Minervalis, Palladius, Saturninus, may have been given with a Christian signification, as implying the duty of the baptized to renounce and oppose the principles of idolatry and superstition. But this practice was forbidden by the Council of Nicæa." Manual of Christian Antiquities.

NAPHTALI, л (Gen. 30. 8.) Sept. NepaXetu, was the sixth son of Jacob, by Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid. Naphtali had but four sons, and yet at the coming out of Egypt his tribe consisted of fifty-three thousand four hundred men able to bear arms. Moses, in the blessing he gave to the tribes, says, “O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord; possess thou the west and the south," (Deut. 33. 23;) the Vulgate reads it, "the sea and the south." The tribe occupied that district in the northern part of

the land of Canaan which lay between Mount Lebanon | to the north and the sea of Gennesareth to the south, and between Asher to the west and the river Jordan to the east; it was a beautiful woodland country, which extended to Mount Lebanon, and produced fruits of every sort. The chief places were Abel or Abel-Beth-Maacah, Hamoth-dor, Harosheth of the Gentiles, Kedesh, and Kiriathaim.

Instigated by Asa, Benhadad the Elder ravaged the land of Naphtali, (1Kings 15. 20;) and the Naphtalites were most of them carried away captive by Tiglath Pileser, king of Assyria. (2Kings 15. 29.) Our Saviour and his disciples, during his public ministry, resided much and preached frequently in the land of Naphtali. (Matt. 4. 13,15.)

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NAPHTUHIM, □ (Gen. 10. 13; 1Chron. 1. 11;) Sept. Nep@ovetu, the descendants of a son of Mitzraim, "for the accurate determination of whose position," Gesenius says, we are entirely in want of any certain data. It bears a resemblance to Nepous, which, according to Plutarch, was the extreme boundary of the country, and was washed by the sea. Hence it has been taken for the country to the east of Pelusium, about the lake Serbonis." Bochart places the Naphtuhim in Libya; and by others they are supposed to have peopled that part of Ethiopia between Syene and Meroe. NAPKIN, σovdapiov, sudarium, (Luke 19. 20,) a handkerchief, napkin; literally, a sweat cloth.

NARCISSUS, was a freed-man, and a favourite of the Emperor Claudius, who possessed, according to Suetonius, great influence at court. In his family were some Christians, whom St. Paul salutes in Romans 16. 11. It does not appear that Narcissus embraced the Christian faith, though the Greeks have made him Bishop of Athens and a martyr, and have even placed him in the number of the seventy disciples.

NATHAN, a prophet in the reign of David, whom he convinced and reproved by a beautiful and pathetic parable of the heinousness of his guilt in the affair of Bathsheba and Uriah. (2Sam. ch. 12.) He is supposed to have been the preceptor of Solomon, at whose court his sons held distinguished offices, and of whose reign, as well as that of David, Nathan wrote memoirs, which have long since perished. (1 Kings 4.5; 1 Chron. 29. 29; 2Chron. 9. 29.) In the Book of Zechariah (12. 12,) the "house of Nathan" represents the descendants or family of the prophet.

NATHANAEL, was one of the disciples of Christ; he is supposed to be the same person as the Apostle Bartholomew. (John 1. 46-50; 21. 2.) See BARTHO

LOMEW.

NATION, signifies all the inhabitants of a particular country, (Deut. 4. 34;) a country or kingdom, (Exod. 34. 10; Rev. 7. 9;) countrymen, natives of the same stock, (Acts 26. 4;) the father, head, and original of a people. (Gen. 25. 23.)

The term "nations" in the prophetic writings is often used as a general name for the heathen or Gentiles. (Isai. 55. 5.)

SIAH.

by nature," that is, according to our natural disposition, when not enlightened and renewed by the influences of the Gospel, "children of wrath." (Ephes. 2. 3.) (4.) A native feeling of decorum, by which a person is withheld from needlessly receding from the customs of his country: "Doth not even nature itself," does not your own native sense of decorum, "teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" (1 Cor. 11. 14,) that is, among the Greeks, to whom alone the Apostle was writing; and consequently he does not refer to the customs of the Hebrews.

wheel. The word occurs in describing the ten bases of NAVE, gab, (1Kings 7. 33,) the arch of the brass in Solomon's Temple.

NAVY, 8 ani, (Kings 9. 26,27.) This word signifies a ship, or collectively ships, a fleet. See SHIP.

NAZARENE. The name Nazarene was given to Jesus Christ and his disciples, and is commonly used in

written against Christianity. The Fathers frequently a sense of derision and contempt in such authors as have mention the Gospel of the Nazarenes, which was either differed in nothing from that of St. Matthew, but was in Hebrew or Syriac, for the use of the first converts, and afterwards corrupted by the Ebionites. Some of the Nazarenes, who had preserved their first Gospel in its pristine purity, were still in being in the time of Jerome, who does not reproach them with any great errors. They were very zealous observers of the law of Moses, but held the traditions of the Pharisees in very great contempt.

Some have considered the Nazarenes and the Ebio

nites to have been identical, but this cannot be proved to be the fact; and nothing can be more fallacious than the Socinian argument which is founded on the mere assumption of this identity, and according to which, the Nazarenes, being orthodox judaizing Christians, held that Jesus was a mere man.

NAZARETH, Naɣape0, (Matt. 21.11; Luke 1.26,) a small city of Lower Galilee, seventy miles north by east from Jerusalem, where the angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin the approaching birth of the Saviour; there Our Lord resided during his early years, whence he was called a Nazarene. (Luke 4. 16.) He did not many miracles there, because his countrymen had no faith in him, and were offended at the meanness of his origin. (Matt. 13. 54-58.) He therefore, as the Evangelist informs us, left Nazareth, "and came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea-coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Naphtali." (Matt. 4. 13.)

any

NATURE. This word has a variety of significations in the Scriptures, as, (1.) Birth, origin, or nativity: "Jews by nature." (Gal. 2. 15.) (2.) The constitution and order of God in the natural world. (Rom. 1. 26; 11. 21,24.) (3.) The native dispositions, qualities, properties, &c., of any person or thing. 66 We were

stated, but rather on the side of a hill, nearer its base than its summit, facing to the south-east, and having above it the rocky eminence which we had passed over in approaching it. The fixed inhabitants are estimated at about two thousand, five hundred of whom are Catholic Christians, about three hundred Maronites, and two hundred Mahommedans; the rest being schismatic Greeks. These are all Arabs of the country, and not