{
 "id": "john-newton/the-leper",
 "title": "The Leper",
 "ordinal": "82",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 82,
 "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": 32,
  "n_stanzas": 8,
  "n_parts": 8,
  "longest_line_chars": 41,
  "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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   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VI",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    5,
    6
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VII",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    6,
    7
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VIII",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    7,
    8
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Oft as the leper’s case I read,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My own described I feel:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Sin is a leprosy indeed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which none but Christ can heal.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Awhile I would have pass’d for well,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And strove my spots to hide,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till it broke out incurable,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Too plain to be denied.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then from the saints I sought to flee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And dreaded to be seen;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I thought they all would point at me.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And cry, “Unclean, unclean!”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "What anguish did my soul endure",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till hope and patience ceased!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The more I strove myself to cure,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The more the plague increased.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "While thus I lay distress’d, I saw",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Saviour passing by;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To him, though fill’d with shame and awe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I raised my mournful cry.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Lord, thou canst heal me if thou wilt,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For thou canst all things do;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "O cleanse my leprous soul from guilt,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My filthy heart renew.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He heard, and with a gracious look",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pronounced the healing word;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“I will⁠—be clean,” and while he spoke",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I felt my health restored.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Come, lepers, seize the present hour,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Saviour’s grace to prove;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He can relieve, for he is power⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He will, for he is love.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}