This is such strange
Reasoning, that _doubtless, it has been reserved to this Time,
solely,_ dear _Tommy,_ for a Head so singularly clear and logical as
yours. You desire I would show the World the Interpretation the
Words will bear. Your Request, my dear Child, is contrary to all
Laws of Argument, and therefore (tho' I am heartily sorry it should
happen so) I cannot comply with your Desire. If you advance an
Assertion, it is at your own Peril to support it with Proofs, which
if you fail in, every one has a Right to _reject it as false_.
In my first I did not give any Construction of the Paragraph,
for my Business was to defend it from the Insinuation with which it
unjustly stood accused; and therefore, from the Gentlemen's declared
Dislike of Mr. _Whitefield_'s Principles, I inferred it was unnatural
to suppose they should so suddenly have changed their Sentiments.
Against this Defence you object, _that the_ Followers of Mr.
_Whitefield_ would naturally believe so sudden a Conversion. Now,
that They should be capable of _Thinking_ so, whom, in the first
Colume of the _Gazette_, you regard as _irrational_ Creatures, and,
consequently, destitute of the Faculty of _Thinking_, is to me quite
incomprehensible.
I now proceed to your Complaint of the gross Misrepresentation,
as you imagine, of the Meaning of the Words, _Better Sort_, in your
first Letter. That _notable_ Epistle was published as the Sentiments
of the whole Company concerned in the Concert.
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