 He matriculated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge on 15 December 1659.Prevented by poverty from proceeding to an ordinary degree, he later obtained the degree of Bachelor of Divinity on 23 June 1676, with a royal mandate of Charles II.After taking holy orders, and engaging in clerical work in London, Rawlet was before 1671 settled in the north), acting for a short while as chaplain to John Wilkins, the bishop of Chester from 1668.