Rue, Charles de la, a Benedictine monk, was born at Corbie, Picardy, in 1684 (5). He became very learn- ed in the (jlreek and Hebrew languages, and died in 1739. He published three vohunes of the Works of Origen (1733-39), and his nephew Vincent de la Rue, born in 1707, published the fourth volume in 1759.
Ruechat, Abraham, a theologian and historical writer of Switzerland, was born Sept. 15. 1678, at Grand- cour, in the canton of Vaud. He early manifested a taste for archaeological and historical inquiry, and alst) great facilit}' in the acquiring of languages, so that he was able to apply for a professorship of Greek and Lat- in at Berne when twenty-one years of age ; and soon afterwards mastered English and (Jerman, attending, for the purpose of perfecting himself in tiie latter tongue, various universities, e. g. Berlin and Leyden. On his return he was made pastor of Auboniie and RoUe, then
professor of belles-lettres and president of the Upper Gymnasium at Lausanne (July, 1721), and finaUy pro- fessor of theology in the same institution, which latter station he occupied until his death, Sept. 29, 1750.
Ruechat distinguished himself chiefly as a historian of the Church in his native land. In 1707 he published an Abrege de I'lfistoire Eccl. du Pays-de-Vaud. His principal work, IHsluire de la Reformation de la Suisse (Geneva, 6 vols.), appeared in 1727 and 1728. It was placed on the Index at Rome, and was assailed by Jesuit priests, to whom Ruechat replied in a letter addressed to the editor of the Bibiioth. Gennanique, xx, 213. His work had been published no farther than 1537, the re- mainder not being given to the public until more than a century after the first issue. The first complete edi- tion is by Valliemin (Lausanne and Paris, 7 vols.), with Notice sur Abraham Ruechat appended. Of Rue- chat's works a number have not yet been printed. The list of his printed works includes a Hebrew Grammar (Leyden, 1707) : — Examen de V Origenisme (against M. Huber [q. v.]): — a translation of the epistles of the apostolical fathers Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp (1721): — a treatise on Bible weights and measures (1743) : — and various dissertations. — Herzog, Real-En- cyklop, s. v.
Ruet, Francisco pe Paula, a Spanish Protestant ministerj was born at Barcelona in 1826. When nine- teen years of age he became deeply impressed with the evangelical truth under the preaching of De Sanctis at Turin, and he at once decided for the Protestant faith. Having been ordained at Gibraltar, he at once betook himself to the preaching of the Gospel in his own na- tive place with that ardor and zeal which characterizes the nature of the Spaniard. The fanaticism of the Ro- mish Church, however, brought about his expulsion from his countrj' for the remainder of his life. He went to Gibraltar, and from that place he labored for the evangelization of his country with great effect, and was the means of bringing Jlatamoros to the Gospel truth. The revolution which broke out in 1868 once more brought him back to his country, and from that time he labored at INIadrid in the most intimate connection with the brothers Fliedner, preaching at the Jesus' chapel in Calatrava Street until he died, Nov. 18, 1878. Ruet was the senior among the Protestant clergy of Spain, and also the first who had suffered imprisonment and exile for the sake of the evangelical faith. (B. P.) Ruff, an ecclesiastical garment: (1) a piece of plait- ed linen worn round the neck; (2) a falling collar; (3) an academical robe of silk worn over the gown of cer- tain graduates; (4) a name sometimes given in the 17th century to the hood or tippet worn by clerics in Church.
Ruffinus. See Rufinis.
Ruffner, Henry, D.D.,LL.D., a Presbyterian divine, was born in the valley of Virginia, in what is now Page County, Jan. 19, 1789. His father was of (ierman ori- gin, his mother of Swiss. In his early youth his father removed to Kanawha County, Va. ; and, schools being very scarce in that section, he was sent to Lewisburg, Va., to the school of Rev. John McElhenny, who was also pastor of the Church in that place. While here he was hopefully converted, and joined the Church. He grad- uated at Washington College, Lexington, Va., in 1817, studied theology with his friend George A. Baxter, D.D., and was licensed by Lexington Presbytery in 1819. The same year he was elected professor in Washington College, and was ordained by Lexington Presbytery and took charge of the Church of Timber Ridge, Va. During the thirty years of his connection with Wash- ington College, he successively filled every professor's chair, and was its president for ten or twelve years. In 1848 he was compelled to resign his position by reason of ill-health ; but after a few years of rest he took charge of the Church in Maiden, on the Kanawha River, where he continued to labor till a vear before his death, which
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occurred Dec. 17, 1861. Dr. RufFner was an untiring and enthusiastic student all his life. In learning he had few equals, and for many years he was probably the most learned man in tlie Southern country, if not in the United States. lie was always an instructive preacher; at times his eloquence was overpowering, iiis manner always demanding attention. He was the author o( Judith Bensaddi (a romance) : — The Fathers (if the Desert (2 vols.): — The Predestinmian: — also a nu.nber oi Pamphlets and A ddresses. See Wilson, Presb. JJist. Almanac, 1863, p. 202; A^. Amer. Rev. xlv, 241 ; South. Lit. Mess, iv, 792; Review of Duyclciiik^s Cyclop, of A mer. Lit. p. 28 ; Amer. Annual Cyclop. 1861, p. 5-15. (J. L. S.)