Flowers (נַדָּה, niddah', uncleanness, as often elsewhere rendered) stands in Le 15:21,33, for the menstrual discharge of females. Flowers. 1. It was an ancient practice to strew flowers on graves. Jerome bestows the following commendation on Pammachius: "While other husbands throw thorns, lilies, violets, roses, and purple flowers upon the graves of their wives, our Pammachius waters the bones and holy ashes of his wife with the balsam of alms. With these perfumes and odors he solaces the ashes of the dead that lie at rest" (Epist. 26).
2. The practice of decorating churches with flowers is very common in the Roman, and some of the Protestant churches of the Continent, and exists in various parts of England. It probably arose out of a desire to "honor the first-fruits" of nature's most beautiful productions, and may therefore be retained among things in themselves indifferent. The modern Ritualists, however, carry this, as other things, to excess.—Bingham, Orig. Eccles. book 23, chapter 3, § 20; Walcot, Sacred Archaeology, page 280; Barrett, Flowers and Festivals, or Directions for the Floral Decoration of Churches (London, 1868).
The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature was edited by John McClintock and James Strong. It contains nearly 50,000 articles pertaining to Biblical and other religious literature, people, creeds, etc. It is a fantastic research tool for broad Christian study.
John McClintock was born October 27, 1814 in Philadelphia to Irish immigrants, John and Martha McClintock. He began as a clerk in his father's store, and then became a bookkeeper in the Methodist Book Concern in New York. Here he converted to Methodism and considered joining the ministry. McClintock entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1832 and graduated with high honors three years later. Subsequently, he was awarded a doctorate of divinity degree from the same institution in 1848.WikipediaRead More