BENOIST (BENOIT), ÉLIE: French Protestant; b. at Paris Jan. 20, 1640; d. at Delft Nov. 15, 1728. His parents were servants of the Protestant family La Tremoille. He early displayed fondness for the classics, studied at Montaigu College and at La Marche (Paris), and taught privately in divinity at Montauban. In 1664 he was ordained, and the following year was called to Alençon, where he served for twenty years as Protestant minister, with as much prudence as capacity. He met with much opposition from the Roman Catholics, especially from the Jesuit De la Rue, who attacked him and even incited a riot against him. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Benoist went to Holland, and was called as minister to the church of Delft, near The Hague, where he stayed thirty years. He wrote Lettre d'un pasteur banni de son pays à une ÉgIise qui n'a pas fait son devoir dans la derniére persécution (Cologne, 1666); Histoire et apologie de la retraite des pasteurs à cause de la persécution de France (Frankfort, 1687); Histoire de I' Édit de Nantes (5 parts, Delft, 1693-95; Eng. transl., London, 1694).

 

G. BONET-MAURY.