28o CHAPTER 20. 
agreeably to the terms of the a<ft, that the 
oath was not binding on thofe who had 
taken it. Hence too, his conftant refufal of 
preferment afterwards, occafioned him to be 
ranked, by many, among the nonconfor- 
mifts, although he lived and died in the 
communion of the church of England, He 
had feen, with deep regret, the diforders of 
the commonwealth and the ufurpation, and 
afterwards, not lefs, the threatening afpedt 
of the reign of Ja?nes 11. 
His ftrong attachment to the principles 
of civil and religious liberty, is manifefted 
by his animated ftile, in the preface to hia 
Synopjis where he expreffes, in glowing 
terms, his joy and gratitude, for having 
lived to fee thofe blefiings eftablifhed by the 
Revolution. 
The charafter of Mr. Ray cannot be 
contemplated by thofe who have a true re- 
liflti for the ftudies of nature, without a 
high fentiment of refped: and gratitude ; 
nor by thofe who confider the exemplari- 
nefs of his life as a man, and his qualifica- 
tions as a divine, without veneration. 
There are two engraved portraits of Mr, 
Ray 
