ht of some of the Epistles and of the Book of Revelation to be
admitted as parts of the Bible. And I afterwards found that the Book of
Revelation was excluded from the Bible by the Greek Church, and by
Luther as well:--and that Luther had but little regard for the Epistle
of James, one of the finest portions of the whole Bible as I thought.

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.

While engaged in this controversy I made discoveries of other facts
inconsistent with the views of my persecutors, and pressed them upon my
opponent without mercy. And the violent and resentful feeling excited by
his unfairness, dishonesty and malignity in defending the Bible, led me
probably to be less concerned for its claims than I otherwise should
have been. Suffice it to say, I came out of the debate with my savage
opponent, not a disbeliever in the Bible or Christianity, but with views
farther removed from those which he contended for, and with feelings
much less hostile to heterodox extremes perhaps than those with which I
entered it.