Your gross Deficiency in the two latter Particulars I
have already given Instances of; and as to your Skill in Language you
have furnished _Us_ with the following notable Example: You affirm
_That Mr_. Whitefield's _Tenets are mischievous_: Therefore, on that
Supposition, it is impossible they should be contemptible; yet, with
the same Breath _you assure_ Us, _that you have them in the utmost
Contempt_. This is the merriest Gibberish I ever met with. Surely,
you have not published it as a Sample of the Stile of those polite
Folks, who by their own Authority, _"contrary to Law and Justice,
without any previous Application to or Consent first had"_ of their
Fellow-Citizens, have usurped the Title of the BETTER SORT.
Under these _gentle_ Reprehensions _We_ now dismiss you, hoping
you will make a proper Use of them, when you shall judge it
_convenient_ to appeal to _Us_ again.
_I am, _On Behalf of myself and the Rest of my
Brethren of the_ Meaner Sort,
Yours, _&c_.
OBADIAH PLAINMAN.
_The Pennsylvania Gazette_, May 15, 1740
_Obadiah Plainman to Tom Trueman_
_To_ TOM TRUEMAN.
_Dear Tommy,_
Tho' there are two Letters addressed to me, one in the
_Gazette_, and the other in the _Mercury_; yet, from the near
Conformity they bear to one another in Sentiment, Reasoning, and
_Similes_, I am apt to conclude they were wrote by the same Hand,
_Or_, if by different Persons, that they communicated their Thoughts
to one another, and then club'd them together for the Service of the
_Public_.
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