5. Bowing at the Name of Jesus

V. Bowing at the Name of Iesus.

A most vile piece of syllabical idolatry grounded upon a very gross and carnal mistaking, and wresting of that text (Philippians 2:9, 10).

1. It is but oddly and untowardly translated *at*, for *in*, for the word is [in non-Latin alphabet] and it is constantly in all other places rendered *in the name*, as when it is said, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it would mar both the sense and English of the text, and make it nonsense to say, baptize them *at* the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, so to say, Our Father which art at Heaven, Mary kept all these sayings at her heart, so in the Creed to say, I believe at God the Father, and at Jesus Christ his Son, and at the Holy Ghost: you see how absurd such a phrase would be. There is no such phrase as *at the name*, to be found in any English author, nor in any other text of Scripture, beside this. And I have heard and read, that the translators of the Bible did render it *in the name of Jesus*, as the same phrase is constantly translated by them, in all other places throughout the whole Bible. But King James committing the translation to the Bishops, to be published and printed, besides other bald and wretched alterations, they did corrupt the translation in this place, blotting out the word *in*, and rendering it *at the name of Jesus*, to countenance their own syllabical idolatry and superstition.

2. By the name of Jesus is not meant the sound of the letters and syllables of the word Jesus, but the authority, the power, and majesty of the person of the Lord Jesus. To expound it of the word, letters, and syllables, is to make it a kind of a magical word, which has all its efficacy included in the sound, and so to abuse it to superstition, as the Jewish Rabbins have abused the word Jehovah with their Cabalistical fooleries and vanities. Why should we not bow as well at the name of God all-Sufficient, El-shaddai, or at the name Jehovah, Elohim, God the Father, Son and Spirit, or at the name Emmanuel, Messiah, Lord, and Savior, or any other name or attribute of God and Christ, all those other names being no less precious and glorious than the name of Jesus: and seeing they do not bow, when they hear Christ described, does not this plainly show, that this honor is not done to the person of Christ, but merely to letters and syllables. And it seems to make a manifest disparity and inequality between the three glorious persons of the Trinity, who are coequal, coessential, and coeternal. If Jews, or Infidels should come into our assemblies, and hear men say, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, without any incurvation at all, and then to pronounce the next words and, in Jesus Christ our Lord, with a stentorian voice, bowing and scraping the ground, they could not but think, and conclude, that according to our principles, God the Father, and the Holy Ghost are not God, or not so much God, as the Son, and that Christ and Jesus were two several persons, the one being bowed to, and not the other. And some have well observed, that of the two, the name Christ seems to be more peculiar and distinguishing than the name Jesus. For the Jews never took offence at any for calling him Jesus, but they excommunicated such as confessed him to be the Christ (John 9:22); neither did they ask him, are you Jesus (Luke 22:67), but are you the very Christ? And when he did own it, they rent their clothes. For if you respect the literal name, there were many others that were called Jesus, as well as He, at the hearing of whose names, the grossest idolatry is oftentimes committed, by capping, and bowing, before they know what Jesus is intended and spoken of. For the Apocrypha mentions Jesus the Son of Syrach, and we read in the Scripture of Jesus the Son of Nun, called in the old Testament Joshua, but the Greek renders it Jesus, for want of some Hebrew letters (Acts 7:47; Hebrews 4:8), and Jesus surnamed Justus (Colossians 4:11), and Barjesus the Sorcerer (Acts 13:6), at whose name cousins with many more at Durham did most devoutly bow, no less than twice in one day, one after another, such was their gross superstitious dotage. And I require a reason, if the word Jesus must be bowed to, why they should not bow to it, when they see it written, printed, carved, painted, or engraven, as well as when they hear it? Why not at the sight, as well as at the sound of it? And why not at home, as well as in the church? And if bowing at the name of Jesus, be a means to keep men from swearing by it, as some would make us believe, how is it then that, the profanest swearers are the devoutest bowers? And drunkards, and blasphemers, and such doleful creatures, who swear, and curse, and damn themselves, and drink healths upon their knees to the confusion of Sion, and Sion's King, such is the raging, hellish madness of profaneness in these times, yet such incarnate Devils are the hottest zealots for every false way, and the fiercest persecutors of those they call Fanatics, who testify against them.

But the Apostle in the text speaks of such a name as was given to Christ at his Resurrection, as the fruit and reward of his death and humiliation. Which therefore can be no other, but that supreme authority, lordship, and dominion over all things and creatures, which was then committed to him by the Father. For the name Jesus was given Him in the very beginning of his humiliation (Matthew 1:21, 25 and 2:1 and Luke 2:21), but when God did raise Him from the dead, then did he set Him at his own right hand, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in [illegible] world, but also in that which is to come (Ephesians 1:20, 21). Then was all power given to Him in Heaven and Earth (Matthew 28:19). Then did God make Him both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), because then, and not till then, he did advance Him to the full and plenary exercise of his kingly power and authority, so that, by the name of Jesus is meant, Christ Exalted, Christ as Lord.

3. By bowing the knee, is meant, that universal subjection of all creatures to this sovereign lordship, judicature, and power of Christ, especially at the day of judgment. For bowing the knee, is a sign of subjection, as when it is said, I have left me seven thousand that have not bowed the knee to Baal, that is, have not submitted to that idolatry, and *toties Diabolo flectimus, quoties peccamus*. Men are said to bow to the Devil, as oft as they obey him, and commit sin. It cannot be meant literally, and carnally of bodily genuflection, because those in Heaven and Hell have no bodily knees to bow withal. Neither is it meant merely of voluntary heart submission, and obedience to Christ; for the bowing here spoken of, is performed not only by the saints and angels, but by those under the Earth, even by the Devils, and all the wicked and damned spirits, though unwillingly, and to their confusion. From where Ambrose and others read it passively, that every knee should be bowed, for they are under the feet of Christ, and forced to submit, and stoop to Him, will they, nill they, as the passive objects of his power and justice. Thus Jerome, *non ad genua corporis, sed ad subjectionem mentis, & inclinationem spectat, sicut David dicit, adhaesit pavimento anima mea*. It does not belong to the knees of the body, but to the subjection and bowing of the mind, as when David says, my soul cleaveth to the earth and dust, noting his inward humiliation, not any outward gesture. And the whole stream of expositors goes this way. As Calvin, Cartwright, Ayry upon the place. And all our divines against the Papists, Alley, Babington, Whitaker, and many others, who have fully vindicated this much abused text, and confuted this beggarly Popish ceremony, showing, that we ought to look at the person and office of the Lord Jesus, and not to be like children playing with letters and syllables.