{
 "id": "john-newton/behold-i-am-vile",
 "title": "Behold, I Am Vile",
 "ordinal": "7",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 248,
 "container": "II Seeking, Pleading, and Hoping",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1779,
  "venue": "Olney Hymns (1779)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_olney-hymns-in-three-bo_newton-john_1779",
   "https://cowperandnewtonmuseum.org.uk/bulletin/computerised-index-to-the-olney-hymns/",
   "https://archive.org/details/olneyhymnsinthre00cowpuoft"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-newton_william-cowper_olney-hymns",
  "file": "book-3.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Olney_Hymns_%281840%29",
   "https://archive.org/details/olneyhymnsinthre00cowpuoft"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-15"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 36,
  "n_stanzas": 9,
  "n_parts": 9,
  "longest_line_chars": 39,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [
  {
   "ordinal": "I",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    0,
    1
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "II",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    1,
    2
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "III",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    2,
    3
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "IV",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    3,
    4
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "V",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    4,
    5
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VI",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    5,
    6
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VII",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    6,
    7
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VIII",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    7,
    8
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "IX",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    8,
    9
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "O Lord, how vile am I,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Unholy and unclean!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "How can I dare to venture nigh",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With such a load of sin?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Is this polluted heart",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A dwelling fit for thee;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Swarming, alas! in every part,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What evils do I see!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "If I attempt to pray,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And lisp thy holy name,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "My thoughts are hurried soon away,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I know not where I am.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "If in thy word I look,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Such darkness fills my mind,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I only read a sealed book,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But no relief can find.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thy gospel oft I hear,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But hear it still in vain:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Without desire or love or fear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I like a stone remain.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Myself can hardly bear",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "This wretched heart of mine;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "How hateful then must it appear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To those pure eyes of thine!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And must I then indeed",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Sink in despair and die?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Fain would I hope that thou didst bleed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For such a wretch as I.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "That blood which thou hast spilt,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That grace which is thine own,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Can cleanse the vilest sinner’s guilt,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And soften hearts of stone.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Low at thy feet I bow,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Oh pity and forgive;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Here will I lie, and wait till thou",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shalt bid me raise and live.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}