because the apostle declares that the man is the head of the woman, the
proposition is to be taken for granted that, in consequence, she is not
his equal but an inferior, we may, with equal propriety and fairness,
quote the same text to prove, and prove as conclusively, that the Son is
not equal with, but is inferior to, the Father. God may be understood to
be the head of Christ in regard to his manhood, and that only. The
Scriptures amply testify that he is not only co-eternal with the Father,
but coequal with him as well. There is neither inferiority nor
superiority in the Divine nature between the Father and the Son; and so
also, since man and woman are derived from one nature, being both human,
there is neither superiority nor inferiority between them. They are
coequal.

Is there, then, no distinction made between the sexes in the text?
Certainly there is. Men were directed to remove their caps or turbans
when they prayed or prophesied in public, while women, on the contrary,
were to remain with their heads covered; that is, to keep veiled when
they prayed or prophesied in public. The latter, it is evident, was
simply a prudential or local arrangement. Throughout the East, and more
especially in heathen countries, it was the custom for women to be
veiled when they made their appearance in public; but immodest women not
unfrequently violated the usage, appearing in public unveiled. In the
state of society then in Corinth, for a Christian woman to have appeared
in public, or to have taken any prominent part in an assembly with her
head uncovered, would have placed her in a false position before
unbelievers, both Jews and Gentiles. That their liberty under the
Gospel, then, might not be made occasion of offense by gainsayers,
against the cause of Christ, that their good should not be evil spoken
of by the profane multitude, the apostle counseled them to submit to the
usages and restraints which the customs of the times and place imposed