[329] Psal. cxxxvi.; cvii, 8, 13, 21, &c.
Quest. LXXXVI. Is it lawful to bow at the naming of Jesus?
Answ. The question either respecteth the person of Jesus, named by any of his names, or else this name Jesus only. And that either simply in itself considered; or else comparatively, as excluding, or not including, other names.
1. That the person of Jesus is to be bowed to, I never knew a christian deny.
2. That we may lawfully express our reverence by bowing, when the names, God, Jehovah, Jesus Christ, &c. are uttered, I have met with few christians who deny, nor know I any reason to deny it.
3. Had I been fit to have prescribed directions to other ministers or churches, I would not have persuaded, much less commanded, them to bow at the name of Jesus, any more than at the name of God, Jehovah, Christ, &c. for many reasons which the reader may imagine, though I will not now mention them.
4. But if I live and join in a church where it is commanded and peremptorily urged to bow at the name of Jesus, and where my not doing it would be divisive, scandalous, or offensive, I will bow at the name of God, Jehovah, Jesus, Christ, Lord, &c. one as well as the other; seeing it is not bowing at Christ's name that I scruple, but the consequents of seeming to distinguish and prefer that name alone before all the rest.[330]
[330] Mic. vi. 6; Jer. xxiii. 27; Isa. lii. 5, 6; xxix. 24; xlii. 8, 9; Psal. ii. 10, 11; Phil. ii. 2, 9-12; Psal. xxxiv. 3; lxvi. 2; lxviii. 4; lxxii. 19; lxxvi. 1, 2; xcvi. 2; c. 4; cxi. 9; cxlviii. 13; cxlix. 3; Isa. ix. 6, 7; xii. 4; Psal. cxxxviii. 2, 3; Rev. xv. 4; 1 Chron. xxix. 20; 2 Chron. xxix. 30.
Quest. LXXXVII. Is it lawful to stand up at the gospel as we are appointed?
Answ. 1. Had I been a prescriber to others myself, I should not have required the church to stand up at the reading of one part of a chapter by the name of the gospel, and not at the same words when the whole chapter is read.