5 ideas
Browne rejects the common charge that studying the body and its natural causes makes a doctor irreligious. Close knowledge of anatomy and nature is, for him, evidence of design, so medical learning can deepen faith instead of wearing it away.
God can be read in two volumes: the written revelation of Scripture and the 'universal and public manuscript' of nature. Studying natural phenomena is therefore a devotional act, and the naturalist who investigates causes honors the author of creation rather than competing with him.
Browne wants to reason as far as reason can go and then deliberately yield to faith where reason fails. He even prefers mysteries that seem impossible, since belief in what reason can already prove requires no faith. The line between the provable and the believed is marked explicitly instead of being blurred.
The human being is 'that great and true Amphibium,' living both in the material world of divided bodies and the invisible world of spirit. Seeing people this way explains inner conflict: bodily passions and rational or spiritual aims pull in different directions because we belong to both realms at once.
Browne refuses to hate people for differences in religion or nation, and he will not condemn Catholics or others with whom he disagrees. He treats uncharitable zeal and faction as greater spiritual dangers than doctrinal error, and holds that disputes over indifferent matters should never break the bonds of charity.