1. John Wesley and the Idea of Errors in the Scripture

2. I read Mr. Jenyns's admired tract, on the "Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion." He is undoubtedly a fine writer; but whether he is a Christian, Deist, or Atheist, I cannot tell. If he is a Christian, he betrays his own cause by averring, that "all Scripture is not given by inspiration of God; but the writers of it were sometimes left to themselves, and consequently made some mistakes."

4. This book is not the work of “some enthusiast or Methodist, some beggar, or some madman.” “... the Scriptures are not revelations from God, but the history of them.” “The revelation itself is derived from God,” but the recording of the revelation “is the production of men.” Some of the Bible comes from God and some comes from humans. How do you decide which is which? Whatever seems best to you.

5. The writers of Scripture “were undoubtedly directed by supernatural influence in all things necessary to the great work which they were appointed to perform... but in the sciences of history, astronomy, and philosophy... they were... liable to... errors.” The truth of the Bible is like a “diamond” in the “mud” of human error. God made sure the Bible is correct in what it says about what we should believe and how we should live, but it can be wrong in all other matters. How do you know what is diamond and what is mud? Whatever seems best to you.

6. Do the authors of Scripture assert infallibility for “every part of the voluminous collection of historical, poetical, prophetical, theological, and moral writings which we call the Bible”? The Bible’s human authors do not claim infallibility. All Jesus requires for salvation is that one believe in him. How do you know what to trust? Acts 16:31 “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” All the rest you are free to doubt. God made sure the Bible is correct in what it says about how to be saved, but it can be wrong in all other matters.

7. “Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible, there may as well be a thousand. If there be one falsehood in that book, it did not come from the God of truth.”