as authoritative. Rom. 1, 32. 3, 8. The constitution of our nature being derived from God, the laws which he has im- pressed upon it, are as much a revelation from him as any other possible communication of his will. And to deny this, is to deny the possibility of all knowledge. Js it comely (tt/oc- TTov €OTt), is it becoming or decorous P
14. 15, Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him ? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her : for (her) hair is given her for a covering.
Doth not nature itself. The word (^vo-ts), nature, some- times means essence or substance, sometimes the laws of nature or of our natural constitution / sometimes, the instinctive feel- ings or judgments which are the effects of those laws. The form which these feelings assume is necessarily determined in a great measure by education and habit. The instinctive sense of propriety in an eastern maiden prompts her, when surprised by strangers, to cover her face. In an European it would not produce that effect. In writing, therefore, to east- ern females, it would be correct to ask whether their native sense of propriety did not prompt them to cover their heads in public. The response would infallibly be in the affirmative. It is in this sense the word nature is commonly taken here. It may, however, mean the laws or course of nature. Nature gives the man short hair and the woman long hair ; and there- fore nature itself teaches that long hair is a disgrace to the one and an ornament to the other ; for it is disgraceful in a man to be like a woman, and in a woman to be like a man. Wearing long hair was contrary to the custom both of the Hebrews and Greeks. The Nazarites, as a distinction, allowed their hair to grow. Num. 6, 8 ; see also Ezek. 44, 20. It was considered so much a mark of effeminacy for men to wear long hair, that it was not only ridiculed by Juvenal, but in after times seriously censured by church councils. To a wo- man, however, in all ages and countries, long hair has been considered an ornament. It is given to her, Paul says, as a covering, or as a natural veil ; and it is a glory to her because it is a veil. The veil itself, therefore, must be becoming and decorous in a woman.