Rev, Cyprian Thomas Rust

1808 - 1895

Testimony
Who died at Soham Vicarage, March 7th 1895, was born March 25th 1808 at Stowmarket, his Father, Thomas Rust, ( Born 1774 at Stanton Suffolk died 1842. He was the Son of William Rust, who was born 1732 or 1734, and died at Haughley, 1823, and Grandson of Thomas & Hannah Rust, of North Lopham North Norfolk ),. being a leading Tradesman and a Prominent Member of the Baptist Congregation in that Town. His Mother was Ann Bridge, Daughter of John Hines, Watchmaker of Needham Market. She died in 1810. He was named Cyprian after his Mothers Uncle, Captain Cyprian Bridge, R.N. and it appears that the name has been constantly borne by the eldest Sons of the Bridge Family since about 1620, the present representative being Rear-Admiral Cyprian A.G. Bridge. He was educated at some small private Schools at Stowmarket, and afterwards at a Boarding School at Halesworth kept by Mr Harvey. In 1827 he went to London to be a Clerk or Warehouseman to Messrs Spooner, Loggatt & Co, 4 George Yard, Lombard Street, Woollen Merchants. He left them about 2 years afterwards and became Clerk to Mr Edmund Docker, Basinghall Street, but returned in 1833. He joined the Baptist Church Worshipping in Salem Chapel, Soho, and was Baptised by Mr John Stevens, the Pastor, June 30th 1831. About 1836 he began to preach in various rooms and small Chapels in the Suburbs in London, together with some other young Men who devoted themselves on Sundays to this work.
He was soon afterwards recognized as a Probationer for the Ministry among the Baptists, and on March 7th 1838 was Ordained Pastor of the Baptist Chapel, Eld Lane, Colchester. On May 9th 1838 he Married Elizabeth Maria ( Born September 13th 1808, Died February 12th 1887 ) Daughter of John Willing Warren Esq, of The Grove, Kentish Town, a Barrister and a Charity Commissioner. In 1842 he resigned his Pastorate on account of ill health, but remained at Colchester, taken Literary and occasional Ministerial work, till 1849. In that year he joined the Communion of the Church of England, and in October, 1849, entered as an Undergraduate at the Queens College Cambridge. On July 7th 1852 he was admitted to the status of Student of Civil Law. According to the arrangements then in force, he was enabled to make his residence at Cambridge nearly three quarters of a year shorter by proceeding in Law than if he had taken the usual, B.A. degree, and he took the Degree of L.L.B. in December 1855. In Advent 1852, he was Ordained Deacon by the Bishop of Norwich ( Dr Hinds ) being licensed to the Curacy of Rockland St Mary for Sunday duty, and also to the Curacy of St Mark, Lakenham, Norwich,  for general Parish work.
In Advent 1853, he was Ordained Priest by the Bishop of Ely, ( Dr Turton ), acting for the Bishop of Norwich, and the next day was licensed to the Perpetual Curacy or Incumbency of St Michael at Thorn, in the City of Norwich, on the presentation of the Marquis of Lothian. He held this Living , which is not quite £100 a year in annual value, till March 25th 1865. In June 1865, he was presented by the Bishop of Norwich ( Dr Pelham ), to the Rectory of Heigham. At that time the Parish of Heigham contained about 15,000 Population, and comprised all that part of Norwich  which lay outside the walls on the Western side of the City. In 1868 this huge Parish was divided into three, and Mr Rust chose for himself the newly Constituted Parish of Holy Trinity, South Heigham, to the Rectory of which he was admitted from April 2nd 1868. The value of this Living was raised by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to £300  a year, with a house and an allowance towards a Curates Stipend. During the whole of the time of his residence at Norwich, he took an active part in most of the Religious and Philanthropic movements and Societies which were carried on in the City. In 1875 he was presented by the Bishop to the Rectory of Westerfield, a small Village 2 miles from Ipswich, where he remained till 1890.  In that year he resigned under the Incumbents Resignation Act, and came to live at Soham.
In the Spring of 1891 he had a Stroke of Paralysis, but recovered from it almost entirely. During the last year he had become gradually feebler, but it was not till about a month before the end that his weakness increased to such an extent as to cause serious apprehension. He died of old age, causing inaction of the heart and difficulty in breathing. There was no disease, and his mind remained clear to the last. He received the Holy Communion  with his Family on the Monday before he passed away, and it is believed that he suffered but little pain. He was buried at Westerfield on March 13th , and a Funeral Sermon was Preached at Soham Church on the 17th by the Rev. John Imrie.
During his residence at Westerfield, he devoted much time to the study of the Great and Little Massora in Buxtorf's Rabbinical Bible. He was always a diligent Student of Hebrew, and took a deep interest in the controversies raised by the '' Higher criticism.'' Only a few weeks before his death he procured the new book entitled Lex Mosaica, and had read nearly half of it before his faculties failed. He was a great reader of all kinds of books and magazines, and possessed a vast fund of general information, accumulated by constant reading and observation during the varied experiences of his long life.
While he was a member of the Baptist  Denomination , he wrote several pieces in prose and verse for Zions Trumpet, and in 1845 he was a chief contributor to the Colchester Christian Magazine, if not Editor of it. He reprinted some of these early writings recently ( for private circulation ) under the title of Fragments in Prose and Verse. From 1864 to 1866 or thereabouts he wrote many articles in the Christian Advocate and Review ( Hunt & Co ) which was then edited by the Rev. R H Groome, afterwards Archdeacon of Suffolk.
He published separately these three books,
1, Essays and Reviews. A Lecture. ( Jarrolds , Norwich 1861 ).
2, Break of Day in the 18th Century ( London, Hunt, 1880 ).
3, The Higher Criticism, ( Hunt, 1878 ).
The present Vicar of Soham was his only Child. ( The present Vicar of Soham being Rev. John Cyprian Rust. )
Extracted from The Soham Parochial Magazine April 1895.