Language changes

Language changes constantly. It is a fluid, dynamic thing that never stays the same. 
In church many old hymns are still in regular use from 300 years or more ago. 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.  There has been a complete change in the understanding of the word "bowels" over the last 300 years! Apparently "bowels" was a word that 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.