1 Corinthians 11:16

1 Corinthians 11:16. But if any man seemeth to be contentions, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God: ‘If in the spirit of contradiction a man will not yield to such considerations, let him know at least that he is setting himself against the universal practice, and disturbing the peace of God's churches.'

Note. To those who, in a narrow spirit, insist on having Divine prescription for the most insignificant details of religious life and public worship, this appeal to “nature itself,” as a great guide in relation to the decencies of public worship, should read a wholesome lesson. Nature, though uniform in its essential features, varies in all that is subordinate in different regions and at different periods. In matters of feeling, taste, and decorum, as to the way in which the relation of the sexes should be expressed, eastern and western ideas notoriously and widely differ, and they should be allowed their natural and proper development. This applies to all arrangements for public worship as well as social usage. Whatever in church organization and public worship is injurious to vital Christianity to spiritual life is to be discountenanced, as sacrificing the end to the means; but within those limits, not a little variety, suggested by national taste or climatic conditions, is surely admissible.