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Ruffner, Henry, D.D., LL.D.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

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Ruffo, Dionigi Fabrizio

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a Presbyterian divine, was born in the valley of Virginia, in what is now Page County, Jan. 19, 1789. His father was of German origin, 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 graduated 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 Washington 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 Malden, on the Kanawha River, where he continued to labor till a year before his death, which 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 the Southern country, if not f in the United States. He was always an instructive a preacher; at times his eloquence was overpowering, his manner always demanding attention. He was the author of Judith Bensaddi (a romance): — The Fathers of the Desert (2 vols.): — The Predestinarian: — also a number of Pamphlets and Addresses. See Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1863, p. 202; N. Amer. Revelations 45, 241; (South. Lit. Mess. 4, 792; Review of Duyckink's Cyclop. of Amer. Lit. p. 28; Amer. Annual Cyclop. 1861, p. 545. (J.L.S.)