{
 "id": "john-newton/why-should-i-complain",
 "title": "Why Should I Complain?",
 "ordinal": "30",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 271,
 "container": "III Conflict",
 "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": 42,
  "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
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "V",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    4,
    5
   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "When my Saviour, my Shepherd, is near,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How quickly my sorrows depart?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "New beauties around me appear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "New spirits enliven my heart:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His presence gives peace to my soul,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Satan assaults me in vain;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While my Shepherd his power controls",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I think I no more shall complain.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But, alas! what a change do I find,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When my Shepherd withdraws from my sight!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My fears all return to my mind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My day is soon changed into night;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then Satan his efforts renews",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To vex and ensnare me again;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All my pleasing enjoyments I lose,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And can only lament and complain.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "By these changes I often pass through",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I am taught my own weakness to know;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I am taught what my Shepherd can do,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And how much to his mercy I owe:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It is he that supports me through all;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When I faint he revives me again;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He attends to my pray’r when I call,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And bids me no longer complain.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Wherefore then should I murmur and grieve,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Since my Shepherd is always the same,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And has promised he never will leave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The soul that confides in his name?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To relieve me from all that I fear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He was buffeted, tempted, and slain;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And at length he will surely appear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though he leaves me awhile to complain.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "While I dwell in an enemy’s land,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can I hope to be always in peace?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis enough that my Shepherd’s at hand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And that shortly this warfare will cease:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For ere long he will bid me remove",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From this region of sorrow and pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To abide in his presence above,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And then I no more shall complain.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}