(c) 3d edition, 4to, 1648. This is designated ' 3d edition,' and the pagination differs from a and b. Prefixed to it is a portrait of Sibbes, cetat 68. Underneath it are these lines, without signature or initial :
' Thy learning, meekness, wisedoine, heavenly minde, Soe full of love, soe zealous, soe discreete. Thy works, ye Church, yea Heaven, where they doe finde A crowne — declare, for earth they were not meets. Whoe, slighting thee, himselfe preferrs before, Let him gett to thee, — he shall then know more.' Our text follows a, with comparison of b and c for correction of misprints. Its title-page is given below.* Q.
• Original title page : —
BOWELS
OPENED,
OR
A DISCOVERY OF THE
Neere and deere Love, Union and
Communio7i betwixt Christ and the
Church, and consequently betwixt
Him and every beleeving soul.
Delivered in divers Senpons on the Fourth Fifth
and Sixt Chapters of the Canticles
By that Keverend and FaithfuU 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.
Cant.4.10.
Thou hast ravished my heart, my Sister, my Spouse : thou halt
ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, and with one chaine of
thy necke.
LONDON.
Printed by G. M. for George Edwards in the Old Baily in
Greene-Arbour at the eigne of the Angell, MDCXXXIX.f
t It may be noted that Obadiah Sedgwick's famous folio on ' The Covenants,' (1661) is entitled, 'The Bowels of Tender Mercy Sealed in the Everlasting Covenant.' Thomas Willocks and Faithful Teat have similarly quaintly-titled treatises on 'Can- ticles.' This book seems to have had a special attraction for the Puritan Divines.
G,
HONORATISSmO DOMINO,
DOMINO EDWAEDO VICE-COMITI MANDEVILLE*
QUEM, UT ^^R.E NOBILITATIS DELICIAS, CANDORIS NIVEM, IN BES CHEISTI, ET ALIORUM COMMODA EFFUSISSIMUM, SUSPICIMUS, COLIMXJS;
UNAQUE CONCIONES HAS IN CANTICA POSTHUMAS
IN AMORIS GEATIAM QUO AUTHOREM IPSE COMPLEXUS EST NOSTE^QUE IN D'*™
IIJ.TUS MERITISSEVI^ OBSERYANTLS: TESTIMONIUM
D.D.
Thomas Goodwin, f Philippus Nye. J
* For full and interesting notices of this great historic name, consult Burke, and any of the ' Peerages ;' also the recently issued family papers at Kimbolton, by the present Duke of Manchester. He was the patron and beloved friend of John Howe. — G.
t The celebrated Dr Thomas Good-win, who discharged the office of ' prefacer ' or editor for many of his Puritan contemporaries, e.g., besides Sibbes, Burroughes, and Hooker. Cf. Memoir by Dr Halley. — G.
X Philip Nye was one of the foremost men in the great Puritan struggle. He died in 1672. Cf. 'Nonconf. Memorial,' i. 95, 96; and Hanburg's 'Historical Memorials relating to the Independents,' throughout the work. — G.
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER
The perusal of this book being committed unto me by an ancient and a faithful friend of mine, I found it, I confess, so full of heavenly treasure, and such lively expressions of the invaluable riches of the love of Christ towards all his poor servants that sue and seek unto him, that I sent unto the godly and learned author, earnestly entreating him to publish the same, judging it altogether unmeet that so precious matter should be concealed from public use : when he excused himself, by undervaluing his own meditations ; but withal signified his desire of the church's good, if by anything in his works it might never so little be promoted. I could not but declare myself in recommending this treatise as a very profitable and excellent help both to the understanding of that dark and most divine Scripture, and also to kindle in the heart all heavenly aflections unto Jesus Christ.
It is well known how backward I am and ever have been to cumber the press, but yet I would not be guilty in depriving the dear children of God of the spiritual and sweet consolations which are here very plentifully ofiered unto them.
And the whole frame of all these sermons is carried with such wisdom, gravity, piety, judgment, and experience, that it commends itself unto all that are godly wise ; and I doubt not but that they shall find their temp- tations answered, their fainting spirits revived, their understandings en- licfhtened, and their graces confii-med, so as they shall have cause to praise God for the worthy author's godly and painful labours. And thus desiring the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort to bless this work to the consolation and edification of those that seek his favour and desire to feai' his holy name, I rest
Thine in Jesus Christ,
J[ohn] Dod.*
* John Dod is one of the most venerable of Puritan ' worthies.' He lived to a ' great age.' Born in 1549, he died in 1G45. Consult Brook (' Lives of the Puri- tans,' vol. iii. pp. 1-6) ; also Clark (' Lives of Thirty-two English Divines,' folio, 1677, pp. 168-178).— G.
BOWELS OPENED.
SERMON I.
I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have eaten my Jioney- comb tvith my honey; I have drunk my nine uith my milk: eat, 0 friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, 0 beloved. — Cant. V. 1.