d _Declamation_ is the orthodox and most
pious Method of writing in behalf of _Orthodoxy_.

Dr. _Rogers_, to whom you write, falls into the Method of Buffoonery,
Banter, Satire, Drollery, Ridicule, and Irony, even in the Treatise to
which your Letter is subjoined, and against that _Person_ whom you would
have punish'd for that Method: When he says to him, [42] "Religion then,
it seems, must be left to the Scholars and Gentlefolks, and to them 'tis
to be of no other use, but as a Subject of Disputation to improve their
Parts and Learning; but methinks the Vulgar might be indulged a little of
it now and then, upon Sundays and Holidays, instead of Bull-baiting and
Foot-ball." And this insipid Piece of Drollery and false Wit [which is
design'd to ridicule his Adversary for asserting, that _What Men
understand nothing of, they have no Concern about_; which is a Proposition
that will stand the Test of _Ridicule_, which will be found wholly to lie
against the Doctor, for asserting the Reasonableness of imposing Things on
the People which they do not understand] is the more remarkable, as it
proceeds from one, who is at the same time for using the Sword of the
Magistrate against his Adversary. One would think the [43] _Inquisitor_
should banish the _Droll_, and the _Droll_ the _Inquisitor_.

One of the greatest and best Authorities for the _pleasant_ and _ironical_
manner of treating _serious_ Matters, is that eminent Divine at the Time
of the Reformation, the great _Erasmus_, who has written two Books in this
way with great Applause of Protestants, and without subjecting himself to
any Persecution of Papists: which makes it highly proper to propose them
to the Consideration of the Reader, that he may regulate his Notions, by
what, it may be presum'd, he approves of in that Author. These two Books
of _Erasmus_ are his _Colloquies_, and his _Praise of Folly_.

His _Colloquies_ were wrote in imitation of _Lucian_'s _Dialogues_; and I
think with equal, if not superior, Success.

Both these Authors had an Aversion to sullen, austere, designing Knaves;
and both of them being Men of Wit and Satire, employ'd their Talents
against _Superstition_ and _Hypocrisy_. _Lucian_ liv'd in an Age when
_Fiction_ and _Fable_ had usurp'd the Name of _Religion_, and _Morality_
was corrupted by _Men_ of _Beard_ and _Grimace_, but scandalously _Leud_
and _Ignorant_; who yet had the Impudence to preach up _Virtue_, and style
themselves _Philosophers_