{
 "id": "john-henry-newman/the-religion-of-cain",
 "title": "The Religion of Cain",
 "ordinal": "XCVI",
 "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": 96,
 "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": {
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  "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": 18,
  "n_stanzas": 3,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 62,
  "max_indent": 2
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "The time has been, it seem’d a precept plain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the true faith, Christ’s tokens to display;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And in life’s commerce still the thought retain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That men have souls, and wait a judgment-day;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Kings used their gifts as ministers of heaven,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor stripp’d their zeal for God, of means which God had given.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "’Tis alter’d now;⁠—for Adam’s eldest born",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Has train’d our practice in a selfish rule,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Each stands alone, Christ’s bonds asunder torn;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Each has his private thought, selects his school,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Conceals his creed, and lives in closest tie",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of fellowship with those who count it blasphemy.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Brothers! spare reasoning;⁠—men have settled long",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That ye are out of date, and they are wise;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Use their own weapons; let your words be strong,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Your cry be loud, till each scared boaster flies;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Thus the Apostles tamed the pagan breast,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They argued not, but preach’d; and conscience did the rest.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}