# Puritans with long hair or long wigs.



## Peairtach

> Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? (I Corinthians 11:14)



How did lady-haired Puritans view this passage?


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## Ivan

How long is long?


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## NaphtaliPress

How long is long is probably the question. In any event, George Gillespie, whose portrait displays a bit of near shoulder-length hair, says the following in his _English Popish Ceremonies _(Part 3, chapter 9, [FONT=&quot]§[/FONT]5):


> [FONT=&quot]As touching a man’s self, the law of nature teaches him that he should not live as a reasonless creature, but that all his actions should be such as may be congruous and beseeming for a creature endued with reason: Whereupon it follows, that he should live honestly and virtuously, that he should observe order and decency in all his actions, etc. Hence the Apostle says, that nature itself teaches that it is a shame for a man to have long hair (1 Cor. 11:14) because it is repugnant to that decency and comeliness which the law of nature requires. For, among other differences which nature has put between men and women, this is one, that it has given to women thicker and longer hair than to men, that it might be as a veil, to adorn and cover them.[FONT=&quot][1][/FONT] The reason whereof, nature has hid in the complexion of a woman, which is more humid than the complexion of a man. So that, if a man should take him to this womanish ornament, he should but against nature transform himself (in so far) into a woman.[/FONT]
> [FONT=&quot][1][/FONT]Paraeus, Com. in illum locum. [Cf. _Ad Corinthios priorem_ (1609) col. 699.]


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## PuritanZealot

One would presume then that when men of the era had shoulder length hair it was regarded as 'short' and when women had hair down their lower back area it was regarded as 'long'. I suppose the cultural sense of long and short has been adjusted. Back then men may have looked rather strangely at men with crew cuts, I suppose it just wouldn't have been that easy to do. Also the association with the look of a convict, or someone about to go to the gallows (head totally shorn).

Maybe they'd regard my wife's just below shoulder length hair as not long enough!?


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## SolaScriptura

NaphtaliPress said:


> How long is long is probably the question.



Indeed! For instance, I look at most guys - men who by society's standards have short hair - and I look at them like they're unkempt hippies. Hair should not touch the top of the ear, the collar of your shirt, and it should have a nice tapered appearance.  Anything else is long.


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## Backwoods Presbyterian

SolaScriptura said:


> NaphtaliPress said:
> 
> 
> 
> How long is long is probably the question.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed! For instance, I look at most guys - men who by society's standards have short hair - and I look at them like they're unkempt hippies. Hair should not touch the top of the ear, the collar of your shirt, and it should have a nice tapered appearance.  Anything else is long.
Click to expand...

 
0-3 inches max tapered for all men.


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## Romans922

Every man should have a shaved head, because it has to be shaved in our culture to be shorter than women's. I love legalism.


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## Peairtach

So these guys didn't think they had long hair, because the women of the day had longer hair?View attachment 2009View attachment 2010


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## baron

Richard Tallach said:


> So these guys didn't think they had long hair, because the women of the day had longer hair?



Thats how it was explained to me. A pastor told me that short hair on men did not come into fashion till the early 1900. Might of been due to WW1 and the army starting to cut hair shorter. As I said this was how it was explained to me. I do not know if it is true or not but made sense to me.


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## puritanpilgrim

GI Barber has the best sermon I have every heard on the subject. He recieved his PhD. in hairology. He did a detailed study on every passage in the Bible regarding hair:

http://www.sharperiron.org/downloads/Podcasts/hairology.mp3


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## Peairtach

> A pastor told me that short hair on men did not come into fashion till the early 1900



This is the case, but it was as much turn of the century as 1914-18, although WWI may have helped later. The beards came off around the fin-de-siecle too. It would have been seen as modern, minimalist, undecorative and unfussy, unlike the previous Victorian styles.


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## NaphtaliPress

Alexander Henderson, a contemporary but twice the age of Gillespe, had short cropped hair. At least according to Van Dyke.
View attachment 2011


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## NaphtaliPress

Here some more information from wikipedia about haircuts at the time of the English Civil War.
Roundhead - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## PuritanCovenanter

Ruben and Daniel..... Two Presbyterians whom I love. 






The PuritanCovenanter



> (1Co 11:16) But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.



Ruben is the Godly one of the bunch.


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## Phil D.

PuritanCovenanter said:


> Ruben is the Godly one of the bunch.



Is that because he has the shortest hair?


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## Dwimble

puritanpilgrim said:


> GI Barber has the best sermon I have every heard on the subject. He recieved his PhD. in hairology. He did a detailed study on every passage in the Bible regarding hair:
> 
> http://www.sharperiron.org/downloads/Podcasts/hairology.mp3



Ha ha ha...I thought this was going to be a serious sermon, and only "hairology" was the joke. I love how he starts off talking about things like Luther rediscovering justification by faith, Calvin awakening us to the sovereignty of God, and so on. And then he says, "_in the last third of the 20th century, the fundamentalists have finally made their contribution to the broad spectrum of theology. They have rediscovered the biblical doctrine of hair and made it a test of fellowship._" But my favorite quote is shortly after that where he says, "_we just have to stand by the position that we fundamentalists have been taking, because, listen, fundamentalists don't make stupid mistakes. We know this is right because that's what we've been preaching._" Who can argue with that flawless logic?

I also learned little known facts like, "_it's not so much the length of the hair, but the location of those hairs and the direction in which those hairs are pointing. Location and direction...that's the concept you've got to master._" And if your hair is combed over in a "horizontal direction," that's "spiritual," but if it touches your collar then you have "ruined your fellowship with God."


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## PuritanCovenanter

Phil D. said:


> PuritanCovenanter said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ruben is the Godly one of the bunch.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Is that because he has the shortest hair?
Click to expand...


It's because the Lord has given him a better heart for the things of God.


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## Phil D.

Of course, as I'm sure you know, I was only teasing, Randy. 

BTW I've been meaning to ask you: What is the reference for the William Symington quotation in your signature? I've Googled it before, but the only hits I get are some of your posts on PB threads!


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## PuritanCovenanter

It comes from my Pastor Dr. Roy Blackwood's Doctoral Thesis he Did about 50 years ago. He studied Dr. Symington's life very indepth. Dr. Symington mentored John G. Paton btw.


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## Peairtach

NaphtaliPress said:


> Alexander Henderson, a contemporary but twice the age of Gillespe, had short cropped hair. At least according to Van Dyke.
> View attachment 2011


 
Yes. I was just wondering - out of interest - how those with hair that we might consider long e.g. Samuel Rutherford, George Gillespie, John Owen, Matthew Henry, etc. accomodated themselves to this verse. Presumably they didn't believe that the Apostle's injunction was cultural, but they considered their hair to be _relatively_ short compared to women of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in their locales.


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## NaphtaliPress

You might see the wiki aritcle I linked to; it explains why some of the Puritans grew there hair out in protest to the bishops. It would be an interesting study to see if any literature at that time covers the argumentation for that action. Nazarite vows, etc.


Richard Tallach said:


> NaphtaliPress said:
> 
> 
> 
> Alexander Henderson, a contemporary but twice the age of Gillespe, had short cropped hair. At least according to Van Dyke.
> View attachment 2011
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes. I was just wondering - out of interest - how those with hair that we might consider long e.g. Samuel Rutherford, George Gillespie, John Owen, Matthew Henry, etc. accomodated themselves to this verse. Presumably they didn't believe that the Apostle's injunction was cultural, but they considered their hair to be _relatively_ short compared to women of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in their locales.
Click to expand...


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## Peairtach

You look vaguely Bunyanesque in your avatar photo, Randy.View attachment 2012


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## Peairtach

> You might see the wiki aritcle I linked to



Thanks for that, Chris.


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## Fly Caster

Solomon Stoddard on wig-wearing preachers-- they looked "as if they were more disposed to court a maid, than to bear upon their hearts the weighty concernments of God's Kingdom."


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## Berean

I'm still waiting for Marrow Man to show up. Did he have a fitting for a new wig today? Such lovely powdered tresses.


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## au5t1n

Berean said:


> I'm still waiting for Marrow Man to show up. Did he have a fitting for a new wig today? Such lovely powdered tresses.


 
While visiting his church this past Lord's day, I discovered to my shock and grief that he does not wear a powdered wig in the pulpit.


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## Marrow Man

Berean said:


> I'm still waiting for Marrow Man to show up. Did he have a fitting for a new wig today? Such lovely powdered tresses.


 
I've decided to keep low and hide my wig on this thread. 

Besides, don't you all know this was done away with in Christ? After all, all the best pictures we have of Him show Him with long hair ...


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## Marrow Man

austinww said:


> While visiting his church this past Lord's day, I discovered to my shock and grief that he does not wear a powdered wig in the pulpit.



Austin, I thought we covered this -- I had sent it out to be re-powdered.


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## MarieP

And my avatar, well...at least Ann's ears are covered


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## AThornquist

puritanpilgrim said:


> GI Barber has the best sermon I have every heard on the subject. He recieved his PhD. in hairology. He did a detailed study on every passage in the Bible regarding hair:
> 
> http://www.sharperiron.org/downloads/Podcasts/hairology.mp3


 

 I was expecting something serious but this was so funny.


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## LawrenceU

Why all this fuss over hair on men's heads? Everyone knows that as a man progresses in sanctification his perfected pate is progressively revealed. 

---------- Post added at 04:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:42 PM ----------




AThornquist said:


> puritanpilgrim said:
> 
> 
> 
> GI Barber has the best sermon I have every heard on the subject. He recieved his PhD. in hairology. He did a detailed study on every passage in the Bible regarding hair:
> 
> http://www.sharperiron.org/downloads/Podcasts/hairology.mp3
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I was expecting something serious but this was so funny.
Click to expand...


Oh, my. This is hilarious. I must save it.


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## Peairtach

Fly Caster said:


> Solomon Stoddard on wig-wearing preachers-- they looked "as if they were more disposed to court a maid, than to bear upon their hearts the weighty concernments of God's Kingdom."


 
But wasn't it said that John Owen dressed like a cavalier, complete with silk stockings and high-heeled shoes?

The OP of this thread was partly stimulated by this thread:-

http://www.puritanboard.com/f45/schirrmachers-alternate-interpretation-1-cor-11-2-16-a-65023/


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## Marrow Man

LawrenceU said:


> Why all this fuss over hair on men's heads? Everyone knows that as a man progresses in sanctification his perfected pate is progressively revealed.



That makes me think of Psalm 7:16 -- "His mischief will return upon his own head, And his violence will descend upon his own pate."


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## Edward

baron said:


> A pastor told me that short hair on men did not come into fashion till the early 1900.



How did he explain the 'Roundheads'?


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## Marrow Man

Look at portraits and photographs of U.S. Presidents before 1900. Those in the late 1800s had short hair (and beards!). But some from the early part of the century did have longish hair (e.g., James Polk, Marvin van Buren, James Madison, etc.).


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## Pergamum

"Lady-haired Puritans" - now THAT's an adjective that one does not quickly forget.

A test for all PB members: Work this new adjective into at least one post each week and soon we make be able to insert this new phraseology into the general culture. Let's be trend-settters. By 2013 it will be appearing in general use even in academic journals. By 2015 Joel Beeke will be publishing a book on the Lady Haired Puritans. 


Question: Would anyone say that this is a 9th commandment violation, to suppose feminine-ness upon the Puritans, i.e., like limp-wristed-ness?


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## Marrow Man

I'll go first.

Pergy sure is acting like a lady-haired Puritan today.


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## MarieP

Mark Driscoll preaches to lady-haired Puritans!


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## Phil D.

What happened before Puritan men began to grow/wear lady-hair:


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## Peairtach

*Quote from Tim*


> After all, all the best pictures we have of Him show Him with long hair ...



As a matter of interest, Why is that? 

Probably deserves its own thread.

*Quote from Phil*


> What happened before Puritan men began to grow/wear lady-hair:



Looks from the picture that they were greatly admired by the ladies.


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## Ivan

Marrow Man said:


> (e.g., James Polk, *Marvin van Buren*, James Madison, etc.).


 
What?! 

BTW, I'm going to grow my hair(s) really long and shave off my beard!


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## Dwimble

Richard Tallach said:


> *Quote from Phil*
> 
> 
> 
> What happened before Puritan men began to grow/wear lady-hair:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks from the picture that they were greatly admired by the ladies.
Click to expand...

 
I beg to differ. I believe those ladies are admiring his stunning, stiff-as-a-board Puritan posture. Everyone knows that the holiest of men walk like the Tin Woodman after receiving his heart.


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## MarieP

Someone just told me today that their dad used to have lady-hair (but before becoming a Puritan). I won't name any names...


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## Zimon

So I'm probably the only lady-haired Puritan around here...  
Firstly, I believe that Schirrmachers exegisis of I. Corinthians 11 is very convincing. In the OT-days, many holy men had long hair (Absalom, Samson,...), God would surely not suddenly "change his mind" and forbid it. Secondly, I think it sounds a bit like some ceremonial/superficial thing if you would ban it. I cannot see any connection between having short-cut hair and true faith in Jesus Christ and dont believe that God leads his people to cut off their hair to be a sign for their faith or something like this. Thirdly - as it has been already mentioned - it is really something depending on cultural background. When discussing about whether it is sinful to eat blood, everyone argues that "the apostles only forbid it because of the Jewish Christians in the apostolic Church and it does not hold true today" (Because they want to eat their medium steak ) that is not questioned, but the possibility of I. Cor 11,4 being related to cultural context as well is denied. I do believe as well that the prohibition of blood is some temporal thing, but I notice many being not consistent and only wanting to accept those prohibitions they like (lady-hair should be banned but I really like blood and pearls). As some of you already stated out correctly, men used to have longer hair in the past. If you say "men have to have short hair compared to the standards of the culture they are living in" you are suggesting they should follow suit the world. What I mean is: If the unbelievers would shave their head completly until they are bald headed, all believers should follow them and get a bald head, because their hair-cut would be sinful if it is longer than bald? Shouldn't the church follow the Word of God and not some cultural/modern trends? Accusing lady-haired believers of being no true believers (and havin no saving faith) is very wrong in my eyes.


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## Philip

On Puritans and fashion during the ECW:

"Charles I was a Cavalier King and therefore had a small pointed beard, long flowing curls, a large, flat, flowing hat and _gay attire_. The Roundheads, on the other hand, were clean-shaven and wore tall, conical hats, white ties and _sombre garments_. Under these circumstances a Civil War was inevitable".
~1066 And All That.


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## Peairtach

> Accusing lady-haired believers of being no true believers (and havin no saving faith) is very wrong in my eyes.



Don't worry Simon. I raised this subject out of interest. I would have to call some of the most respected and godly men of the past unbelievers, if I called you an unbeliever because you had long hair.

At best you wouldn't be unbelievers, but either deliberately ignoring a small part of God's Word, or you had a wrong interpretation of that small part of God's Word, or I was wrong in interpreting that small part of God's Word - I Corinthians 11 on hair distinctions between men and women.

We are justified by faith in Christ through grace, not because we keep the law perfectly. There are much more serious sins and errors that would make us question the reality of our's or another's faith than the length of our/their hair!

Either way it shouldn't come between our fellowship.

Is Dr Schirrmacher's book just available in German?


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## Zimon

> Don't worry Simon. I raised this subject out of interest.


I hope my post did sound like I was accusing you of inciting people against longer-haired Christians  The last sentence was meant to be more general, for I already met people who thougt it was a sign of sinful disobedience and a sure path to hellfire. My comment was not related to your first post directly.



> Either way it shouldn't come between our fellowship.






> Is Dr Schirrmacher's book just available in German?


Never thought it was available, but after doing a bit of research, I actually found it:

ISBN: 9783933372468
Amazon.com: Paul in Conflict with the Veil (9783933372468): Thomas Schirrmacher: Books


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