{
 "id": "john-newton/the-sluggard",
 "title": "The Sluggard",
 "ordinal": "78",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 319,
 "container": "VI Cautions",
 "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": 32,
  "n_stanzas": 8,
  "n_parts": 8,
  "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
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "The wishes that the sluggard frames,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of course must fruitless prove;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With folded arms he stands and dreams,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But has no heart to move.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "His field from others may be known,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fence is broken through,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The ground with weeds is overgrown,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And no good crop in view.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "No hardship he or toil can bear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No difficulty meet;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He wastes his hours at home, for fear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of lions in the street.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "What wonder then, if sloth and sleep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Distress and famine bring.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Can he in harvest hope to reap,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who will not sow in spring?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "’Tis often thus in soul concerns",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We gospel sluggards see;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Who, if a wish would serve their turns,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Might true believers be.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But when the preacher bids them watch,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And seek and strive and pray,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "At every poor excuse they catch⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A lion in the way.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To use the means of grace how loath!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We call them still in vain;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They yield to their beloved sloth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And fold their arms again.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Dear Saviour, let thy pow’r appear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The outward call to aid.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "These drowsy souls can only hear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The voice that wakes the dead.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}