{
 "id": "john-newton/the-thaw",
 "title": "The Thaw",
 "ordinal": "89",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 230,
 "container": "IV Creation",
 "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": 28,
  "n_stanzas": 7,
  "n_parts": 7,
  "longest_line_chars": 38,
  "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
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "The ice and snow we lately saw,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which cover’d all the ground,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Are melted soon before the thaw,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And can no more be found.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Could all the art of man suffice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To move away the snow,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To clear the rivers from the ice,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or make the waters flow?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "No, ’tis the work of God alone;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An emblem of the power",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "By which he melts the heart of stone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In his appointed hour.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All outward means, till he appears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will ineffectual prove;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Though much the sinner sees and hears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He cannot learn to love.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But let the stoutest sinner feel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The soft’ning warmth of grace,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Though hard as ice or rocks or steel,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His heart dissolves apace.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Seeing the blood which Jesus spilt",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To save his soul from woe,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His hatred, unbelief, and guilt,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All melt away like snow.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Jesus, we in thy name entreat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Reveal thy gracious arm;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And grant thy Spirit’s kindly heat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Our frozen hearts to warm.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}