{
 "id": "john-newton/peter-released-from-prison",
 "title": "Peter Released from Prison",
 "ordinal": "122",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 122,
 "container": "Book I On Select Texts of Scripture",
 "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-1.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": 40,
  "n_stanzas": 5,
  "n_parts": 5,
  "longest_line_chars": 36,
  "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": [
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   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "V",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
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   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Fervent persevering prayers",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are faith’s assured resource;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Brazen gates and iron bars",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In vain withstand their force:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Peter, when in prison cast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though by soldiers kept with care,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though the doors were bolted fast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was soon released by prayer.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "While he slept, an angel came,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And spread a light around,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Touch’d and call’d him by his name,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And raised him from the ground:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "All his chains and fetters burst,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Every door wide open flew;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Peter thought he dream’d at first,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But found the vision true.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thus the Lord can make a way",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To bring his saints relief;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis their part to wait and pray",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In spite of unbelief:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He can break through walls of stone,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sink the mountain to a plain;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They to whom his name is known",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can never pray in vain.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thus in chains of guilt and sin,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Poor sinners sleeping lie;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "No alarm is felt within,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Although condemn’d to die,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till, descending from above,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Mercy smiling in his eyes,)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesus, with a voice of love,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Awakes, and bids them rise.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Glad the summons they obey,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And liberty desire:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Straight their fetters melt away",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like wax before the fire:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "By the word of Him who died,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Guilty pris’ners to release,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Every door flies open wide,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And they depart in peace.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}