us the wonders
we seek without us. There is all Africa and all its prodigies in us all.
We are that bold and adventurous piece of nature, which he that studies
wisely learns, in a compendium, what others labour at in a divided piece
and endless volume.' And again, 'There is another way of God's
providence full of meanders and labyrinths and obscure methods: that
serpentine and crooked line: that cryptic and involved method of His
providence which I have ever admired. Surely there are in every man's
life certain rubs, and doublings, and wrenches, which, well examined, do
prove the pure hand of God. And to be true, and to speak out my soul,
when I survey the occurrences of my own life, and call into account the
finger of God, I can perceive nothing but an abyss and a mass of mercies.
And those which others term crosses, and afflictions, and judgments, and
misfortunes, to me they both appear, and in event have ever proved, the
secret and dissembled favours of His affection.' And in the _Christian
Morals_: 'Annihilate not the mercies of God by the oblivion of
ingratitude. Make not thy head a grave, but a repository of God's
mercies. Register not only strange, but all merciful occurrences. Let
thy diaries stand thick with dutiful mementoes and asterisks of
acknowledgment. And to be complete and to forget nothing, date not His
mercy from thy nativity: look beyond this world, and before the era of
Adam. And mark well the winding ways of providence. For that hand
writes often by abbreviations, hieroglyphics, and short characters,
which, like the laconism on Belshazzar's wall, are not to be made out but
by a key from that Spirit that indited them.' And yet again, 'To
thoughtful observers the whole world is one phylactery, and everything we
see an item of the wisdom, and power, and goodness of God.' How any man,
not to speak of one of the wisest and best of men, such as Samuel Johnson
was, could read all that, and still stagger at Sir Thomas Browne holding
himself to be a living miracle of the power, and the love, and the grace
of God, passes my understanding.

We have seen in his own noble words how Sir Thomas Browne's life appeared
to himself. Let us now look at how he appeared to other observing men.
The Rev. John Whitefoot, the close and lifelong friend of Sir Thomas, has
left us this lifelike portrait of the author of _Religio Medici_. 'For a
character of his person, his complexion and his hair were answerable