The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 366

he [IS broadly separated as M. Renan and Dr. Farrar, and yet none can deny that; :--t. l',rnl had this incomparable adrnntage, namely, a great centre, from which he saw all ub.1ccts that engaged his attention. His method is fully brought out in the third, nrse: the bead of the man is Christ; the r.ead of the woman is the man· the head, ()f Christ is God-a statement clear, compact, exhaustive. One moment he' is dealino- ,Yith the relationship between man and woman: Eden rises to his view, the sleepin~- Adam wakening to fine. Eve at his side, " the woman of the man," and " the glory of.' the man;" and the next moment he is contemplating the Trinity in its economic and immanent relations. Yet from this sublime height of Christ's exaltation at the right: hand of the Father there is no break when ]·,e descends to discuss woman's behaviour- in Church assemblies. The principle involved keeps him on around far above dress and decorum as such, and, indeed, he will not touch the matter ~t all until he has set forth the dignity of its associations. Let us be careful, then, lest we err by supposing that St. Paul looked upon dress and decorum, in this instance, as simply convention- alities based on whims of taste and caprices of opinion. Conventionalities they were in a certain sense, but conventionalities to be respected and observed. In brief, they were customs that had a moral meaning. If a woman appeared in public unveilecl, she was deemed immodest. To wear a veil was a b;gn of womanly delicacy, and hence, if she went to a public assembly_ without her veil, she acted shamelessly. To be consistent, argues St. Paul, "let her also be shorn," and so assume the mark ofi a disreputable woman. A woman acting in this way sets pnblic opinion at defiance; and as public opinion in many things is public conscience, and as such the aggregated, moral feeling of a community, no woman could do this thing and not shock all right sensibility. Besides, the veil is a sign of subordination and dependence. Refusing to use this covering of the head was a mark of insubordination and independence.. A symbol it was, but to cast off the symbol was to repudiate the thing siguified. This was not all. If uncomely, it was also unnatural; "for her hair is given her for a covering." The argument has one passage (ver. 10) which is confessedly difficult to understand, but this does not detract an iota from the general directness and force. St. Paul's purpose is unmistakable-to set forth the order of God's economy in the relative positions of man and woman to each other, and the entire unity of their relation to God in Christ. Man's authority is guarded against all excess, and woman·s- depeodence is beautified by delicacy, retiringness, and trustful Jove. So high an. estimate is put on her character and attitude, that even her personal appearance, as- to attire and demeanour, is a matter of moment, involviug the honour aud happiness. of her husband, and intimately blended with the conservatism of society and the influence of the Church. Nor is the apostle's manner of appeal to be overlooked. A great truth may be conveyed to the mind, while nevertheless the mode of its communication, left to hap-hazard impulse, or, forsooth, in doll'nright contempt of the· mind's Jaws, may work an amount of harm for which the truth itself is no compensa- tion. Rest assured that so discerning a man as St. Paul, whose eye took its seeing from sensibility no Jess than from reason, would not violate manner when he was- discussing the worth of manuers. Rest assured, too, that he would seek a very firm basis for the Joofo 0 of his judgment. That such was the fact, "Judge in yourselves" demonstrates. At the very moment that he clistinctly recognizes public opinion as public conscience, and counsels deference to its dicta as diviuely authoritative, he yet addresses human intuitions. "There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." No other truth save this could have availed Elihu when he came to the perplexed Job and his well-meaning but very mistaken friends, and, as a mediator, prepared the way to close the controversy. No other truth than the "~pirit in man" and its "inspiration of the Almighty" can qualify- any man to mediate where intellectual conflicts interblend with the moral and spiritt!al instincts. Inspiration in its highest form makes no war on inspiration in its lower form, since the inspiration that gives original truth, and that openness and sympathy which receive it, are both from God. St. Paul preached a gospel that commended itself to every man's conscience in the sight of God, and he acted in the same frame of mind when he treated of decorum and showed wherein manliness andl womanliness consisted. Customs and habits vary; he goes back to the sense of custom and habit permanent in the soul. He is not afraid of human instincts. Although hEi cu. x1. 1-:a.J '1'.liE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 3il