Gilbert Rule

Who was Gilbert Rule?

Dr Gilbert Rule was a nonconformist divine and the Principal of Edinburgh University from 1690 to 1701.

Rule had previously been Regent in the University of Glasgow, afterwards sub-Principal of King's College, Aberdeen. Before the Restoration, he had been the minister at Alnwick, Northumberland. Having been ejected from his parish by the Act of Uniformity 1662, he came to Scotland and shortly thereafter was imprisoned in Bass from preaching in St. Giles Church and baptizing two children. At the revolution he became one of the ministers of Greyfriars Kirk.

In 1672, along with his brother Robert, Rule travelled to Derry, where Robert was installed as minister until 1688. The First Derry Presbyterian Church records say:

On the 26 September 1690, Rule was elected Principal of Edinburgh University.

His predecessor as Principal, Dr Alexander Monro had been ejected for not taking the oath of allegiance to William and Mary, and wrote a work in defence of his faith called "An Enquiry into the New Opinions Propagated by the Presbyterians of Scotland; Together with some Animadversoins on a Late Book entitled 'A defense of the Vindications fo the Kirk'; in a Letter to a Friend at Edinburgh". This prompted Gilbert Rule, to respond with a book called "The Good Old Way Defended".