{
 "id": "john-newton/we-were-once-as-you-are",
 "title": "We Were Once as You Are",
 "ordinal": "3",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 244,
 "container": "I Solemn Addresses to Sinners",
 "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": 40,
  "n_stanzas": 5,
  "n_parts": 5,
  "longest_line_chars": 34,
  "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,
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   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "V",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    4,
    5
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Shall men pretend to pleasure",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who never knew the Lord?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Can all the worldling’s treasure",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "True peace of mind afford?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They shall obtain this jewel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In what their hearts desire",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When they by adding fuel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can quench the flame of fire.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Till you can bid the ocean,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When furious tempests roar,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Forget its wonted motion,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And rage and swell no more;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In vain your expectation",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To find content in sin;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Or freedom from vexation",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While passions reign within.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Come, turn your thoughts to Jesus.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If you would good possess;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis he alone that frees us",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From guilt and from distress:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When he by faith is present",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sinner’s troubles cease;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His ways are truly pleasant,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all his paths are peace.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Our time in sin we wasted,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And fed upon the wind;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Untill his love we tasted",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No comfort could we find:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But now we stand to witness",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His power and grace to you;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "May you perceive its fitness,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And call upon him too!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Our pleasure and our duty,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though opposite before,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Since we have seen his beauty,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are join’d to part no more:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It is our highest pleasure,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No less than duty’s call,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To love him beyond measure,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And serve him with our all.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}