{
 "id": "john-newton/the-trembling-gaoler",
 "title": "The Trembling Gaoler",
 "ordinal": "123",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 123,
 "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": 4,
  "n_parts": 4,
  "longest_line_chars": 39,
  "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
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "A believer, free from care,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "May in chains or dungeons sing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If the Lord be with him there,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And be happier than a king:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Paul and Silas thus confined,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though their backs were torn by whips,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet, possessing peace of mind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sung his praise with joyful lips.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Suddenly the prison shook,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Open flew the iron doors;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the gaoler, terror-struck,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now his captives’ help implores:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Trembling at their feet he fell,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Tell me, sirs, what must I do",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To be saved from guilt and hell?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "None can tell me this but you.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Look to Jesus,” they replied,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“If on him thou canst believe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By the death which he has died,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou salvation shalt receive.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While the living word he heard,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Faith sprung up within his heart,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And released from all he fear’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In their joy his soul had part.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Sinners, Christ is still the same;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O that you could likewise fear!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then the mention of his name",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Would be music to your ear:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesus rescues Satan’s slaves,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His dear wounds still plead, “Forgive!”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jesus to the utmost saves;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sinners, look to him and live.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}