FRANCIS WILLlJGHBY. G9 
for he was known to have frequently declared, 
that he considered it an unlawful oath ; and in 
the total absence of proof to the contrary, his 
observations in the memorandum of his mother’s 
death, which will be hereafter quoted, and his 
own avowal when on his deathbed to the Rev. 
Mr Pyke, rector of Black Notley, his native 
village, concur to prove that he had been, through- 
out his whole life, and from principle, a sincere 
and most cordial member of the Church of 
England. But the Bartholomew act required of 
him to sign a declaration that such persons as had 
taken the oath of the Solemn League and Cove- 
nant were “ under no obligation to that oath.” 
“ He feared they might be.”** He consequently 
was unable conscientiously to sign the declara- 
tion, and his scruples cost him his fellowship ; 
and as they never were removed, he was disabled 
throughout the rest of his life from holding any 
ecclesiastical office whatever. Thirteen fellows 
of different colleges in Cambridge, and one 
master of a college, along with upwards of two 
thousand other divines in various parts of the 
kingdom, were also ejected from their livings for 
the same reason. 
It is not necessary to form any opinion of the 
abstract question itself, in order to appreciate 
the uprightness of Mr Ray’s conduct on this 
occasion. It is sufficient to know that he con- 
sidered it an act of doubtful prooriety to sign the 
* Perham’s Life of Ray, 
