Many old hymns are still in regular use today. The one below by Isaac Watts, written in 1719, is a versification
of psalm 41. It has for some reason been left out of
most modern hymnals. The understanding of the word "bowels" has
changed dramatically in the last 300 years! Apparently bowels at the time of Watts referred to deep feelings.
Blest is the man whose bowels move
And melt with pity to the poor;
Whose soul, by sympathising love,
Feels what his fellow saints endure.
His heart contrives for their relief
More good than his own hands can do;
He, in the time of general grief,
Shall find the Lord has bowels, too.
His soul shall live secure on earth,
With secret blessings on his head,
When drought, and pestilence and dearth
Around him multiply their dead.
Or if he languish on his couch,
God will pronounce his sins forgiv’n;
Will save him with a healing touch,
Or take his willing soul to Heav’n.
This L.M. version of Ps. xlii., stanzas 1-3, which was published in his Psalms of David,
&c, 1719, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, appears in some collections as
"Blest is the man whose mercies move;" and in others, "Blest is the man
whose heart doth move," the object being to get rid of the, to some,
objectionable expression in the first line. These changes are adopted
both in Great Britain and in America.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
