The _Religio Medici_ was Sir Thomas Browne's first book, and the
_Christian Morals_ was his last; but the two books are of such affinity
to one another that they will always be thought of together. Only, the
style that was already almost too rich for our modern taste in the
_Religio_ absolutely cloys and clogs us in the _Morals_. The opening and
the closing sentences of this posthumous treatise will better convey a
taste of its strength and sweetness than any estimate or eulogium of
mine. 'Tread softly and circumspectly in this funambulatory track, and
narrow path of goodness; pursue virtue virtuously: leaven not good
actions, nor render virtue disputable. Stain not fair acts with foul
intentions; maim not uprightness by halting concomitances, nor
circumstantially deprave substantial goodness. Consider whereabout thou
art in Cebes' table, or that old philosophical pinax of the life of man:
whether thou art yet in the road of uncertainties; whether thou hast yet
entered the narrow gate, got up the hill and asperous way which leadeth
unto the house of sanity; or taken that purifying potion from the hand of
sincere erudition, which may send thee clear and pure away unto a
virtuous and happy life.' And having taken his reader up through a
virtuous life, Sir Thomas thus parts with him at its close: 'Lastly, if
length of days be thy portion, make it not thy expectation. Reckon not
upon long life; think every day thy last. And since there is something
in us that will still live on, join both lives together, and live in one
but for the other. And if any hath been so happy as personally to
understand Christian annihilation, ecstasy, exaltation, transformation,
the kiss of the spouse, and ingression into the divine shadow, according
to mystical theology, they have already had an handsome anticipation of
heaven: the world is in a manner over, and the earth in ashes unto them.'
'Prose,' says Friswell, 'that with very little transposition, might make
verse quite worthy of Shakespeare himself.'