George Rust

George Rust (died 1670) was an English Anglican academic and churchman, who became bishop of Dromore in 1667. He is known as a Cambridge Platonist and associate of Jeremy Taylor.

Life He was a native of Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. from St Catharine's Hall early in 1647. He became a fellow of Christ's College in 1649, and proceeded M.A. in 1650. He belonged to the Cambridge Platonist school; among his friends at Christ's were Sir John Finch and Henry More. He was also close to Joseph Glanvill.

Rust gave up his fellowship in 1659. Soon after the Restoration of 1660, he was invited to Ireland by Jeremy Taylor, ordained deacon and priest on 7 May 1661, and made dean of Connor in August. In 1662 he was presented by the crown to the rectory of Island Magee. It also touched on apocatastasis. Sermon on ii. Tim. i. 10, preached at Newtown, 20 Oct. 1663, at the Funeral of Hugh, earl of Mount Alexander, Dublin, 1664. Sermon at Jeremy Taylor's Funeral, Dublin, 1667; many later editions. It was included by Reginald Heber in vol. i. of Taylor's Works. A Discourse of Truth, London, 1677; another edition, with notes and a preface by Joseph Glanvill, was published by James Collins, London, 1682. This is not identical with Rust's discourse delivered at Cambridge in 1655. A Discourse of the Use of Reason in Matters of Religion, showing that Christianity contains nothing repugnant to Right Reason, against Enthusiasts and Deists, London, 1683; the Latin original edited by Henry Hallywell, with a translation, notes, and a dedication to Henry More. Remains, edited by Henry Hallywell and dedicated to his diocesan John Lake, London, 1686.

Glanvill said that Rust gave a new turn to Cambridge studies, going back to "primitive learning and theology".