Merrick, James Lyman, a Presbyterian minis- ter, was bdin at Mmison, Mass., Dec. 11, 1813. He grad- uated at Amherst College in 1830, and in 1833 at the theological seminary at Columbia, S. C. ; was ordained as a missionary to the Persians in 18.34; in August of the same year he sailed for Constantinople, and in Oc- tober, 1835, arrived at Tabriz, Persia. He labored, travelled, and explored among the Mohammedans about two years, then joined the Nestorian Mission at Oroo- miah, and in 1845 returned to America, and in 1849 was installed pastor of the Congregational Church at Am-
herst, Mass. He died June 18, 1866. Mr. Merrick had a strong mind, and was a good scholar, a faithful pastor, and an earnest missionary. He was thoroughly acquainted with the Persian, and well read in the Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Greek, Latin, and French tongues. He was altogether absorbed in the interests of the Persian lan- guage and literature, and bequeathed his property to the literary institutions which had afforded him his early advantages, for the founding of four Persian schol- arships. He was the author of The Pilgrim's Harp, a volume of poems (1847) : — The Life and Religion of Mo- hammed, translated from the Persian (1850) : — Keith's Evidences of Prophecy, translated into Persian (1846). He also left in MS., A Full Work on Astroiwmy, select- ed, compiled, and translated into Persian, A Friendly Treatise on the Christian Religion, and A Treatise on the Orthography and Grammar of the English Language. See Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1867, p. 181, 182; N. Amer. Rev. Ixxi, 273 ; Brownson's Quar. Rev. 2d sen, iv, 408. (J. L. S.)
Merriken, Joseph, a Methodist Episcopal minis- ter, was born at Annapolis, Md., Nov. 25, 1811 ; entered the Baltimore Conference in 1831; in 1835-8 was sta- tioned in Baltimore; in 1838-9, in Lewiston, Pa.; in 1840-1, in Hagerstown, Md. ; in 1842-3, in Annapolis ; in 1844-5, in Baltimore; and in 1847 in Alexandria, where he died, in February (?), 1848. He was a man of great energy and labor, and one of the best preachers of his time, not in great talents, but in sound judgment, clear and earnest study, and great faith. He was espe- cialh' noted for excellence and faithfidness as a pastor. — Minutes of Conferences, iv, 197.
Merrill, Daniel, an American Baptist minister, noted for his opposition to open communion and Pajdo- baptists, flourished as pastor at Sedgwick, Me., where he died in 1833, about sixty-five years of age. His works are. Seven Sermons on Baptism (10th ed. 1812) : — Eight Letters on Ojien Communion (1805) : — Letters oc- casioned by Worcester's Discourses: — Balaam Disap- pointed; and several sermons preached on important public occasions.
Merrill, David, a Presbyterian minister, was bom at Peacham, Vt., in 1798, and was educated at Dart- mouth College (class of 1821). He was called to preach at Urbanna, Ohio, in 1827; thence to the Church at Peacham in 1841, where he died in 1850. Mr. Merrill published Three Occasional Sermons, and contributed to several periodicals, A volume of his sermons, with a sketch of his life, was published by Thomas Scott Pear- son (Windsor, Vt,, 1855, 8vo). See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer: Authors, s. v.
Merrill, Franklin, a Presbyterian minister, was born in 1819. He was educated at Princeton College, studied divinity at the Princeton Theological Seminar}', and was ordained pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Hempstead, Long Island, N. Y., in 1848. In 1853 he accepted a call to the Presbyterian Church of Stillwa- ter, N. Y., and in 1858 to the Reformed Dutch Church of Schuylerville, N. Y., where he died, March 31, 1861. j\[r. Merrill was an earnest and instructive preacher, and possessed the high art of impressing the message of God with peculiar directness and pungencj'. See Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1862, p. 206.
Merrill, Joseph A., a noted Methodist Episco- pal minister, was born at Newbury, Mass., Nov. 22, 1785; was converted in 1804 ; entered the New England Con- ference in 1807; was stationed in Boston in 1813-14; in 1815-18 was presiding elder on Vermont District; in 1819 was agent of the Wesleyan Academy at New Market, and the first missionary of the first missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which ivas formed by the Lynn Common Church, and his field was New Hampshire. In 1826-27 he was stationed in Bos- ton ; 1830-33 was presiding elder on Providence Dis- trict; 1834-38 was on Springfield District; 1843-47, in Salem, Boston, and Cambridge ; and died at Wilbra-
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ham, IMass., July 22, 1849. " Jlr. Merrill was an able and useful minister, and greatly devoted to the inter- ests of the ( !liurcli. He was one of the original trustees of the M'csk'vaii University, and remarkably success- ful as an agent for the academy, of which he secured the removal to \\ilbraham. He was one of the ear- liest and most devoted friends of the anti-slavery cause, and his name is Iionorably identified with the rise and progress of tliat important movement." His admin- istrative and i)ractical talents were of the highest order, and his firm integrity made him trusted and respected by all. See Minutes of Con/ei-ences, iv, 536; Steven's Memorials of Methodism, ii, ch. xxxii. (G. L. T.)
Merrill, Thomas Abbott, D.D., a Congrega- tional minister, was born .January 18, 1780, in Andover, Mass.; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1801; Avas chosen tutor in 180,^ ; and in 1804 tutor in Middlcbury College, which office he held a year, and Avas then or- dained pastor in Middlcbury, Dec. 19, 1805. He la- bored on this charge until Oct. 19. 1842. He died April 25, 1855. He was one of the formers of the Vermont Domestic JMissionary Society in 1818, and secretary of the same until 18-21 ; and he was president of the I'eace Convention in 1853. In 1842 he was chosen treasurer of Middlcbury College. He published two of his ser- mons (180G; "l833).— Sprague, .4H«t;fe,ii,481.