{"id":"jw/letters/1789a/33-to-mrs-bowman","corpus":"jw-letters","type":"letter","author":"john-wesley","title":"A 33 To Mrs Bowman","title_alt":[],"text_basis":null,"date_composed":null,"date_precision":"unknown","date_note":null,"numbering":{"bicentennial":null,"jackson_running":null,"sugden":null},"source_edition":{"editor":null,"title":null,"edition":null,"place":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"volume":null,"pages":null,"scan_url":null,"scan_page_ids":null},"transcription":{"derived_from":null,"corrected_against_scan":false,"corrector":null,"corrected_on":null},"modernization":"none","license_text":"Public Domain Mark 1.0","license_apparatus":"CC BY 4.0","wikidata":null,"prev":null,"next":null,"part_of":"jw-letters","editorial_note":null,"source_id":"jw-letter-1789a-33-to-mrs-bowman","passage_ids":["jw-letter-1789a-33-to-mrs-bowman-000"],"word_count":180,"themes_auto":["means-of-grace","reign-of-god","scriptural-authority"],"open":true,"closed_reason":null,"legacy_ids":["jw-letter-1789a-33-to-mrs-bowman-000"],"passages":[{"id":"jw-letter-1789a-33-to-mrs-bowman-000","author":"john-wesley","source_id":"jw-letter-1789a-33-to-mrs-bowman","source_title":"A 33 To Mrs Bowman","source_type":"letter","year":null,"chunk_index":0,"text":"To Mrs. Bowman Date: BRISTOL, March 14, 1789. I have neither time nor inclination to enter into a long dispute on this or any other question. See letter of March 4, 1786. All I can do is, first to declare my own judgment, and then set down my reasons for it; and if your son is not satisfied therewith, I do not know any way to help it. The judgment is that there is no more harm in keeping an hot-house than a flower garden; and I judge there is no more sin in keeping a flower garden than in smelling a rose. My reason for judging both of these innocent is because neither of them is forbidden in Scripture, and it is sinful to condemn anything which Scripture does not condemn. I think, therefore, to condemn all who keep hot-houses and flower gardens is a sin both against God and their neighbors; and one of them might say, 'Why am I judged of another man's conscience To my own Master I stand or fall.' I am Your affectionate brother.","word_count":180,"source_url":null,"themes":["reign-of-god","means-of-grace","scriptural-authority"],"created_at":"2026-01-30T05:23:45.424867"}]}