{
 "id": "john-henry-newman/paraphrase-of-isaiah-64",
 "title": "Paraphrase of Isaiah 64",
 "ordinal": "III",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Henry Newman",
 "poet_slug": "john-henry-newman",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Verses on Various Occasions",
 "book_slug": "verses-on-various-occasions",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 3,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Verses on Various Occasions (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/a600744000newmuoft"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-henry-newman_verses-on-various-occasions",
  "file": "verses-on-various-occasions.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "http://www.newmanreader.org/works/verses",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009038168",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48927",
   "https://archive.org/details/dreamofgerontius01newmuoft"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 48,
  "n_stanzas": 7,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 55,
  "max_indent": 1
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "O that Thou wouldest rend the breadth of sky,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That veils Thy presence from the sons of men!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "O that, as erst Thou camest from on high",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sudden in strength, Thou so would’st come again!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Track’d out by judgments was Thy fiery path,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ocean and mountain withering in Thy wrath!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then would Thy name⁠—the Just, the Merciful⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strange dubious attributes to human mind,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Appal Thy foes; and, kings, who spurn Thy rule,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then, then would quake to hopeless doom consign’d.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "See, the stout bows, and totters the secure,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While pleasure’s bondsman hides his head impure!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Come down! for then shall from its seven bright springs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To him who thirsts the draught of life be given;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard the things",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which He hath purposed for the heirs of heaven⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A God of love, guiding with gracious ray",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each meek rejoicing pilgrim on his way.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yea, though we err, and Thine averted face",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rebukes the folly in Thine Israel done,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Will not that hour of chastisement give place",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To beams, the pledge of an eternal sun?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Yes! for His counsels to the end endure;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We shall be saved, our rest abideth sure.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Lord, Lord! our sins⁠ ⁠… our sins⁠ ⁠… unclean are we,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Gross and corrupt; our seeming-virtuous deeds",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Are but abominate; all, dead to Thee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shrivel, like leaves when summer’s green recedes;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "While, like the autumn blast, our lusts arise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sweep their prey where the fell serpent lies.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "None, there is none to plead with God in prayer",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bracing his laggart spirit to the work",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of intercession; conscience-sprung despair,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sin-loving still, doth in each bosom lurk.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Guilt calls Thee to avenge;⁠—Thy risen ire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sears like a brand, we gaze and we expire.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But now, O Lord, our Father! we are Thine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Design and fashion; senseless while we lay,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou, as the potter, with a Hand Divine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Didst mould Thy vessels of the sluggish clay.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Mark not our guilt, Thy word of wrath recall,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lo, we are Thine by price, Thy people all!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Alas for Zion! ’tis a waste;⁠—the fair,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The holy place in flames;⁠—where once our sires",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Kindled the sacrifice of praise and prayer,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Far other brightness gleams from Gentile fires.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Low lies our pride;⁠—and wilt Thou self-deny",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy rescuing arm unvex’d amid thine Israel’s cry?",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}