BIeuits ok CiiKisT, a term used to denote the intlu- once or moral consideration resulting from the obedience of Christ — all that he wrought and all that he suffered for the salvation of mankind. See Atonioiext ; Im-
riTATION ; BlOlITEOlSNESS OF ClIKIST.
Mekits oi- Saints. See Slperekogation.
Meritum de Condigno, or i>e Congkio {desert of irorth or Jitnes.t). This distinction in the idea of the merit of good works, as it was first interpreted by Tliomas A(iuinas, may be looked upon as a compromise between the strict Augustinian doctrine to which he himself was attached, and the Pelagian tendencies of the Church in general, particidarly on the subject of good works. He therefore considers meritorious works uiuler two asjiects : 1. According to the substance of the work itself, in so far as jtrocecding from beings en- dowed with free will, it is an effect of ilicir free voli- tion, 2. As proceeding in a measure from the grace of
MERLAT
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MERLE D'AUBIGNE
the Holj' Spirit. Under the last aspect, being, in fact, an eflect of the divine grace in man, it is raeritorium vitjB asternoe ex condigm. While considered as a result of free will, the immense disproportion between tlie creature and the supernatural communicated grace pre- vents there being any comlif/nitas, any absolute desert, but only a congruitas, propter quandam a?qualitatem proportionis. For it appears suitable that " ut homini operanti secundum suam virtutem Deus recompenset secundum excellentiara suw. virtutis." From this Thom- as Aquinas concludes : 1. That no one but Christ can gain by meriium condigni any 2}rimamg?-aHam for anoth- er. 2. That, on the contrary, it is possible to all as re- gards merittim congrui, since " secundum amicitia; propor- tionem Deus implet hominis voluntatem in salvatione alterius." The conclusion, which opens wide the door to the practice of supererogatory works, is consequently this, that "tides aliorum valet alii ad salutcm mei-ilo congrui, non condigni." Duns Scotus goes even further in this Pelagian direction, and asserts that man can, de congruo, prepare (dispomre) himself for the recep- tion of the grace oflFered him. By Protestants this dis- tinction is of course rejected, as weU as the whole doc- trine of good works. The A2)ol. Conf. (ii, 63) declares that this scholastic distinction is but a screen for Pela- gianism : "Nam si Deus necessario dat gratiam pro me- rito congrui, jam non est meritum congrui, sed con- digni;" elsewhere (iii, 127) it opposes to it the follow- ing arguments : 1. That this doctrine tends to diminish the mediatorial character of Christ, qui perpetuo est mediator, non tantum in principio justificationis. 2. That it continually awakens doubts in the conscience, for hypocrites could always rely on their good works to merit justification, while conscientious believers would be in doubt as to all their works, and always seeking for more. " Hoc est enim de congruo mereri, dubitare et sine fide operari, donee desperatio incidit." See Mlin- scher, Lehrhuch d. Dogmengesch. ii, 1, 145, 146, 176 ; Ne- ander, Gesch. d. christl. Religion ii. Kirche, ii, 294, 610. — Herzog, Real-EnajMop. ix, 365. (J. N. P.)
Merlat, Elik, a French theologian, was born at Saintes in March, 1634, and was educated at Saumur and Montauban ; 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 Renverse- ment de la Morale d'Arnauld brought upon him the dis- pleasure of the government in 1679; he was sent to pris- on, 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, Reponse generale au livre de M. A rnauld: Le Renversement de la Morale de Jesus Christ (Saumur, 1672, 12mo) : — Le mo- yen de discerner les esprits; this sermon was directed towards the visionaries, and created great disturbance : —Le vrai et lefaux Pietisme (Lausanne, 1700, Timo). — Hoefer, Noiiv. Biog. Generale, s. v.
Merle d'Aubigne, Jean Henri, D.D., one of
the illustrious characters of the Church of the 19th cen- tury, the popular historian of the most prominent event of modern times — the great Reformation of the 16th century — was born at the village of Eaux Vives, on Lake Leman, in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland, Aug. 16, 1794. He was the descendant of celebrated French Protestants. His first French ancestor to leave the na- tive soil was his great-grandfather, John Lewis Merle, who quitted his home at Nisraes after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), and found a refuge in the home of Switzerland's greatest character— John Calvin. In 1743 Francis, son of John Lewis, married Elizabeth D'Aubigne, daughter of the celebrated French Protestant nobleman, and direct descendant of the noted chevalier, Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne, the grandfather of Ma- dame de Maixtexon (q.v.). According to French usage, the family name of Elizabeth's illustrious ancestry was
appended to the family name of her own oflFspring. One of these was her son, Aime Robert (born in 1755, mur- dered in 1799), the father of this subject, and of two other sons who now figure in American mercantile life — one of them has been for many j-ears a resident of Brooldyn, L. I. ; the other a resident of New Orleans.