Nathus, Fabian

Nathus, Fabian a German divin,. flourished in Bohemia during the anti-Reformation period of the 16th century. But little is known of his personal history. He was preaching at Prague, holding at the 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. Up to 1615 the Bohemians had been favored with Protestant preaching in the German 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 States 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 October 29, 1622, the last four Lutheran clergymen who had remained in the country were obliged to leave. Among these was Nathus. He went to Brunswick, Germany, and there died about 1640. Nathus was an able defender and propagator of the Reformed doctrines, and deserves to be ranked among those who suffered martyrdom for conscience' sake. Although he did not die at the stake, he yet suffered expulsion from the field of his labor and separation from the flock which deeply loved him. See Pescheck, The Reformation and Anti- Reformation in Bohemia (Lond. 1846, 2 volumes, 8vo), 2:32-33, 414. (J.H.W.)