{
 "id": "john-newton/prayer-for-the-continuance-of-the-gospel",
 "title": "Prayer for the Continuance of the Gospel.",
 "ordinal": "48",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 189,
 "container": "II Ordinances",
 "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-2.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": 24,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 6,
  "longest_line_chars": 41,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "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
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Once, while we aim’d at Zion’s songs,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A sudden mourning check’d our tongues!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then we were called to sow in tears",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The seeds of joy for future years.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Oft as that memorable hour",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The changing year brings round again,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We meet to praise the love and power",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which heard our cries and eased our pain.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Come, ye who trembled for the ark,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unite in praise for answer’d prayer;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Did not the Lord our sorrows mark?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Did not our sighing reach his ear?",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then smaller griefs were laid aside,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all our cares summ’d up in one;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Let us but have thy word,” we cried,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“In other things thy will be done.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Since he has granted our request,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And we still hear the gospel voice;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Although by many trials press’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In this we can and will rejoice.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Though to our lot temptations fall,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though pain and want and cares annoy;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The precious gospel sweetens all,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And yields us med’cine, food, and joy.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}