14. I further learnt that some had doubts as to the right of Solomon's
Song to a place in the Bible, and I found that even Adam Clarke did not
believe that it had any spiritual meaning.
All these were facts; and I learned them all from Christian authors of
the highest repute for learning and piety. And so long as things went on
smoothly, they had not, so far as I can remember, any injurious effect
on my mind. But when, after having been harassed for years by the
intolerance of my brethren, I was expelled from the ministry and the
church, and finally placed in a hostile position with regard to the
great body of Christians and Christian ministers, I began to see, that
those facts were incompatible with the views and theories of the divine
inspiration and absolute perfection of the Bible held by my opponents. I
came very slowly to see this, and after I saw it I was slow to speak on
the subject in my publications; but the time to see and to speak arrived
at length.
One of my New Connection opponents, by repeated charges of infidelity,
and by statements about the Scriptures which I knew he could not
maintain, got me into controversy on the subject. Then I uttered all
that was in my mind. I showed that many of the things which he had said
about the Bible were not true,--that they were inconsistent with plain
unquestionable facts,--with facts acknowledged by all the divines on
earth of any consequence, and known even to himself and his brethren.
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