IT is a question with some as to whether a Christian wife should cover her head when in prayer with her husband at home. If she audibly engages, I think so; for women must not act in the presence of men (whether few or many, husbands or servants) without the sign of authority on her head. God's order must be maintained, that angels may observe and learn. The woman is the glory of man, and must therefore be covered before God; the man, on the contrary, is the image and glory of God, which must not be covered up. The fact of nature having given her long hair, in contrast with the man, tells the woman that she needs a covering; though the hair itself does not suffice, for God would have her place something on her head, implying her action as acceptance and confession of the place He has assigned to her.
If in the home (at family prayers for instance) the wife is silent, the husband only expressing himself audibly to God, I do not see that the passage in 1 Cor. 11 applies; though if in any individual case there is the least feeling as to it, the woman should comply. It is important to preserve a good conscience at all cost; and we should remember that it is written, “Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth” (Rom. 14:2222Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. (Romans 14:22)). It is better to be over-scrupulous than indifferent in the things of God; especially in an evil day of departure from the truth as the present, when on all hands God's order is despised and His word ignored.
W. W. F.