Milton, which abounds in more decisive proofs of fervency of genius, sublimity of sentiment, and richness of imagination. It is, moreover, a work of exalted piety; and, as it was written early in life, when the author was not more than thirty years of age, it has nearly, if not altogether, escaped that deluge of exotic phraseology which has so materially blemished his subsequent compositions.

It must not, however, be denied, that even in this production, admirable as it is in many parts, there are passages, and those not very unfrequently occurring, which either by their paradoxical subtlety, their quaint and fantastic imagery, or their unguarded familiarity of illustration, are calculated, not only to injure its effect as a whole, but to weaken that impression on the mind, which every friend to virtue and religion would wish its nobler parts indelibly to fix.

It is on this account, and especially at the present period, when scepticism and infidelity have reared their heads with such effrontery amid the walks of science, that I esteem myself to be doing an acceptable service to the public,

in once more bringing before it the best portions of the best work of this great and good man, of this profound philosopher and truly Christian physician.

And if, whilst thus employed in the grateful task of selecting passages worthy of being had in everlasting remembrance, I have ventured, occasionally, to accompany them with a commentary of my own, I beg it to be understood, that in so doing, I have chiefly had in view, either the corroboration of their doctrine through the medium of what subsequent opinion has produced, or the applicability of their sentiment to the circumstances of the present times.

Previous, however, to my entering on this minute consideration of the book, it will, I think, be of essential service to the cause which I am about to advocate, to state, that the life of Sir Thomas Browne, which was protracted to the age of seventy-seven, and terminated on his birth-day, October the 19th, 1682, was in strict conformity, as to religious practice, with the tenor of his writings. "The opinions of every man," observes Dr. Johnson, in concluding his biography of this estimable character," must

be learned from himself; concerning his practice, it is safest to trust the evidence of others. Where these testimonies concur, no higher degree of historical certainty can be obtained; and they apparently concur to prove, that Browne was a zealous adherent to the faith of Christ, that he lived in obedience to his laws, and died in confidence of his mercy."

The RELIGIO MEDICI, which was written in 1635, and first surreptitiously presented to the world in 1642, was not originally intended for the public eye; but was composed, as the author tells us, in his address to the reader, as "a private exercise directed to himself;" a circumstance, which has thrown over the work much additional interest and value, by giving to its matter a more unreserved tone of communication, and to its style a greater freedom and vivacity. There is another anecdote also connected with the work of still greater importance; for Mr. Whitefoot, the bosom friend of the author, has declared, that, to the last, Sir Thomas

*Life of Sir Thomas Browne, originally prefixed to the second edition of his "Christian Morals," which appeared in the year 1756.

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never found reason to deviate from the religious principles which he had laid down in this his earliest publication. *

It may be necessary likewise to premise, ere I commence my extracts, that I have not taken them in the regular order of the book; but have selected and classed them in the manner which I have deemed best calculated for the purposes of perspicuity; with this limitation, however, that as the work is divided into two parts, the first including the subject of faith, and the second, that of charity, I have carefully avoided, by an arrangement appropriated to each department, all intermixture of the two topics.

From this first part, therefore, as devoted to the consideration of faith, I now proceed to form my quotations, commencing with those supremely awful and sublime subjects, the Creation of Man and the Providence of God.

"The whole Creation," observes my author, speaking of the operations of the Deity, "is a mystery, and particularly that of man; at the

* Vide Memoirs of Browne, by Mr. John Whitefoot, prefixed to his Antiquities of Norwich.

blast of his mouth were the rest of the creatures made; and at his bare word they started out of nothing but in the frame of man (as the text describes it), he played the sensible operator, and seemed not so much to create as to make him. When he had separated the materials of other creatures, there consequently resulted a form and soul; but having raised the walls of man, he was driven to a second and harder creation, of a substance like himself, an incorruptible and immortal soul.

"In our study of anatomy, there is a mass of mysterious philosophy, and such as reduced the very heathens to divinity; yet, amongst all those rare discoveries, and curious pieces, which I find in the fabric of man, I do not so much content myself, as in that which I find not; for in the brain, which we term the seat of reason, there is not any thing of moment more than I can discover in the cranium of a beast; and this is a sensible and no inconsiderable argument of the inorganity of the soul; at least, in that sense, we usually so receive it. Thus, we are men, and we know not how; there is something in us, that can be without us, and will be after us.