SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1942
SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1942
MY DEAR SISTER IN THE LORD, — ... So far as I see, the instructions of Scripture as to the woman’s attire are so worded as to give the prominent place to what is within, but they imply that there will be correspondence in the outward deportment and dress with what is within. This calls for sensitiveness of moral perception as to what will really accord with the testimony. It is not commendable to make haste to follow every current fashion. We have, more or less, to fall in with what becomes general, but even sober people in the world do not hurry to pick up every new fashion or habit, much less should believers have any desire to do so. If the body were held simply as a vessel in which Christ is to be magnified it would have a very great influence on how we dress, and on all our behaviour.
We have precise instruction as to the woman having her head covered when she prays or prophesies. This marks her place in the great economy of headship, and she does well to cherish it as her own peculiar glory. I do not know that Scripture puts an obligation on her to have her head covered whenever she appears, as one might say, in a public way. But I think a Christian woman who had the truth of headship in her heart would feel it to be happier to be covered rather than uncovered when she walks abroad before the world. Not regarding this as a matter of requirement, but as expressive of a delicate sense of suitability. The Lord would value such an exercise of heart as linked with one of the greatest principles of the moral universe. This just comes back to what I began with, that the important thing is what is within, and that the outward should take character from it.
I do not speak of this from any personal observation, for I [p. 313] do not think I have seen any instance of sisters walking about uncovered. Of course, going a few yards, say, from one house to another, is hardly, I suppose, what you have in mind. Those walking with us here have all been preserved, and we are hoping to be provided, within a few weeks, with a suitable room to meet in. My health is not good, but I generally get to all local meetings.
With much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
September 21st, 1942.