A12167:804
Bowels Opened
Bowels opened, or, A discovery of the near and deer love, union and communion betwixt Christ and the Church, and consequently betwixt Him and every believing soul Delivered in divers sermons on the fourth fifth and sixth chapters of the Canticles. By that reverend and faithful minister of the Word, Doctor Sibs, late preacher unto the honourable society of Gray's Inn, and Master of Katharine Hall in Cambridge. Being in part finished by his own pen in his life time, and the rest of them perused and corrected by those whom he entrusted with the publishing of his works.Bovvels opened, or, A discovery of the neere and deere love, union and communion betwixt Christ and the Church, and consequently betwixt Him and every beleeving soule Delivered in divers sermons on the fourth fifth and sixt chapters of the Canticles. By that reverend and faithfull minister of the Word, Doctor Sibs, late preacher unto the honourable societie of Grayes Inne, and Master of Katharine Hall in Cambridge. Being in part finished by his owne pen in his life time, and the rest of them perused and corrected by those whom he intrusted with the publishing of his works.
London: printed by George for George Edwards, 1639
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
I charge you O daughters of Jerusalem if ye find my Beloved that ye tell him, I am sick of love.
I charge you O daughters of Ierusalem if ye find my Beloved that ye tell him, I am sicke of love.
Thus we may see that the way to Heaven is full of changes, the strength of corruption overclouds many times and damps our joys. How many several tempers hath the Church been in? Sometimes she is all compounded of joy vehemently desiring kisses of her best beloved, ⟨p. 317⟩she holds her beloved fast and will not let him go, and sometimes again she is gone, hath lost her beloved, is in a sea of troubles, seeks and cannot find him, becomes sluggish, negligent, overtaken with self-love, after which when she hath smarted for her omissions (as here again) she is all a fire after Christ (as we say) no ground will hold her, away she flies after him, and is restless until she find him, where by the way we see, That permanency and stability is for the life to to come; here our portion is to expect changes, storms and tempests, therefore they must not be strange to particular persons, since it is the portion of the whole Church, which thus by sufferings and conformity to the head must enter into glory,1 whiles God makes his power perfect in our weakness,2 overcomes Satan by unlikely means and so gets himself the glory, even out of our greatest infirmities, temptations and abasements.
Thus we may see that the way to Heaven is full of changes, the strength of corruption overclouds many times and damps our joyes. How many severall tempers hath the Church beene in? Sometimes she is all compounded of joy vehemently desiring kisses of her best beloved, ⟨p. 317⟩