# Sin — Olney Hymns character guide > Sin in Olney Hymns by John Newton. **Role:** minor **First appearance:** 0000-olney-hymns ## Who they are Personified as a master that enslaves, from which Christ sets free. ## Relationships ### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/characters/jesus_christ) _rivalry_ Jesus battles and overcomes sin, offering deliverance from its power and guilt. ### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/characters/jesus_christ) _rivalry_ Jesus battles and overcomes sin, offering deliverance from its power and guilt. ### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/characters/jesus_christ) _rivalry_ Jesus battles and overcomes sin, offering deliverance from its power and guilt. ## In the story ### [Jehovah-Shalem—The Lord Send Peace](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/22-jehovah-shalem-the-lord-send-peace) The cause of guilt and wrath from which believers are redeemed. ### [Wisdom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/52-wisdom) Humanity's sinfulness is acknowledged, as they 'slighted' and 'nail'd' Christ to the tree. ### [Vanity of Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/54-vanity-of-life) Identified as the cause of the world's woe and the reason for decay and death. ### [Vanity of the Creature Sanctified](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/56-vanity-of-the-creature-sanctified) Sin is identified as the root cause of all pain, thorns, and stings in the world. ### [Look Unto Me, and Be Ye Saved](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/61-look-unto-me-and-be-ye-saved) Personified as a burden and guilt that the sinner is told to stop poring over, and which is forgiven and cleansed by Christ. ### [The Good Physician](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/62-the-good-physician) Personified as the worst disease, affecting every part and raging within. ### [67: Jehovah Our Righteousness](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/67-jehovah-our-righteousness) Personified as an entangling force that pollutes praise and prayer. ### [They Shall Be Mine, Saith the Lord](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/80-they-shall-be-mine-saith-the-lord) Sinners boast in their shame, representing the wicked who will face vengeance. ### [A Sick Soul](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/83-a-sick-soul) Personified as a distemper that spreads through the entire being, causing spiritual sickness. ### [The House of Prayer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/96-the-house-of-prayer) Sin is personified as part of a 'thievish swarm' that steals joy and robs Christ of praise. ### [Salvation Drawing Nearer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/127-salvation-drawing-nearer) Personified as a force that still has place in believers' lives and as a transgression of the Saviour's laws. ### [The Inward Warfare](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/130-the-inward-warfare) The power of sin that contends with grace within the believer. ### [New Year's Hymns](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/new-year-s-hymns) Described as the source of sorrow and the cause of the curse on the world. ### [Death and War. 1778](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/5-death-and-war-1778) Sin is identified as the fruitful seed producing great sorrow and provoking divine judgment. ### [Prayer for a Blessing](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/7-prayer-for-a-blessing) The guilt of former sin is acknowledged and prayed for mercy. ### [Pleading for and with Youth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/11-pleading-for-and-with-youth) Personified as the cause of humanity's wretched condition. ### [Harvest](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/36-harvest) Personified as an opposing force that cannot destroy grace's crop. ### [Saturday Evening](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/40-saturday-evening) Personified as the only return made by the ungrateful, and as something to be conquered by the gospel. ### [Christ Crucified](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/54-christ-crucified) Personified as a power that is overcome by the cross, unable to move the transformed believer. ### [It Is Good to Be Here](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/56-it-is-good-to-be-here) Personified as the force that slew the Lamb of God and from which the believer is freed. ### [Looking at the Cross](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/57-looking-at-the-cross) Personified as the cause of Christ's death, whose guilt is exposed and pardoned. ### [67: The Hiding-Place. Feb. 10, 1779](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/67-the-hiding-place-feb-10-1779) The sinful land that incurs divine wrath. ### [On the Earthquake. Sept. 8, 1775](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/68-on-the-earthquake-sept-8-1775) Personified as the cause of Britain's guilt and the reason for the earthquake. ### [The Day of Judgment](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/77-the-day-of-judgment) Implied in the warning to the careless sinner whose heart will be confounded and who will face condemnation. ### [The Day of the Lord](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/78-the-day-of-the-lord) Personified as the state of sinners who provoke God's face and presume on His patience. ### [The Flood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/88-the-flood) Personified as a flood that drowns the soul when accumulated. ### [The Thaw](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/89-the-thaw) Sin is depicted as hardness of heart, which is dissolved by grace. ### [Alarm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/2-alarm) Personified as sins of a blood-crimson dye that will crowd around the sinner, each crying for vengeance. ### [We Were Once as You Are](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/3-we-were-once-as-you-are) Described as a realm of vexation and false pleasure, incapable of providing true contentment. ### [Prepare to Meet God](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/4-prepare-to-meet-god) Sin is one of the foes that believers will overcome through trusting in the Lord's name. ### [Invitation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/5-invitation) The condition from which sinners are called to turn, and which Christ hates yet provides deliverance from. ### [Self-Acquaintance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/26-self-acquaintance) The sinful heart is the subject of the poem, containing fiery seeds of anger and other evils. ### [Hear What He Has Done for My Soul!](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/54-hear-what-he-has-done-for-my-soul) The state of security in sin from which the narrator is rescued. ### [V: Dedication and Surrender](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/v-dedication-and-surrender) Depicted as an enslaving force that is hated and ultimately defeated by the view of Jesus. ### [The Heart Healed and Changed by Mercy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/63-the-heart-healed-and-changed-by-mercy) Personified as an enslaving master that led the speaker bound and blind for many years. ### [Hatred of Sin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/64-hatred-of-sin) Sin is personified as a serpent's tooth and a poison, the only thing hated. ### [Salvation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/85-salvation) Deserving death, most hateful and abhorred, yet the sinner lives by faith. ### [Praise to the Redeemer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/87-praise-to-the-redeemer) Personified as a enslaving power from which believers are delivered. ### [Man by Nature, Grace, and Glory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/88-man-by-nature-grace-and-glory) Stained the divine flame, bringing darkness, strife, and death. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/characters/sin - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/olney_hymns_se/characters