Merlat, Elie

Merlat, Elie a French theologian, was born at Saintes in March, 1634, and was educated at Saumur and Mont-auban; he afterwards visited Switzerland, Holland. and England, and in 1658 secured a position as minister at the church of All Saints. In 1678 he presided over the provincial synod at Jonzac. His reply to Reversement de la Morale d'Arnauld brought upon him the displeasure of the government in 1679; he was sent to prison, and in 1680 the Parliament of Guienne banished him from the country. Merlat escaped to Lausanne, where he was appointed professor of theology. He died there Nov. 18, 1705. His most celebrated works are, Response generale au livre de M. Arnauld: Le Reversement de la Morale de Jesus Christ (Saumur, 1672, 12mo):Le noyen de discerner les esprits; this sermon was directed towards the visionaries, -and created great disturbance: Le vai et le faux Pielisme (Lausanne, 1700, 12mo).