Flowers in the Bible are not treated from a scien' tifie point of view. Ver}' few species are mentioned ; and, although their beauty is once or twice alluded to in descriptive passages (sometimes under the general term "grass," JNIatt. vi, 38; Cant, ii, 12; v, 13), they are seldom introduced, except in the single pathetic analogy which the}' afford to the transitory life and glory of mankind (Job xiv, 2 ; Psa. ciii, 15 ; Isa. xxviii, 1 ; xl, 6 ; Jas. i, 10 ; 1 Pet. i, 24). See Botany. The ancient Egyptians were exceedingly fond of flowers, and they are often represented on the monuments (see Wilkinson, i, 19, 37, 57, 78, 141, 257, etc.). Gardens (r"S;<, D'l!"'?) O"^??? TTa^aCEKJoi) were in use among Orientals from the earliest times (Gen. xiii, 10) ; Dent, xi, 12, etc.) ; but, although they were planted with flowers and fragi'ant herbs (Cant, vi, 2 ; iv, IG), often chosen for their beauty and rarity (Isa. xvii, 10), yet the}' appear to have been chiefly cultivated for useful and culinary purposes (Jer. xxix, 5 ; Cant, vi, 11 ; iv, 13 ; Deut. viii, 8, etc.). See Garden.
Floweu (n^Q, pe'rach, a hud^ Isa. xviii, 5 ; Numb, xvii, 8, as just bursiin/j open into a blossom, Isa. v, 24 ; Nah. i, 4) is used to describe the floral ornaments of the golden candelabrum (Exod. xxv, 31 sq. ; xxxvii, 17; 1 Kings vii, 2G), and also the artificial lily-orna- ments around the edge of the great laver (1 Kings vii, 26 ; 2 Chron. iv, 5) in the tabernacle and Temple. See Candlestick, Golden; Brazen Sea.
Flowers (il13, niddah', zaiclecuiness, as often else- where rendered) stands in Lev. xv, 24, 33, for the menstrual discharge of females.
Flovrers. (1.) It was an ancient practice to strew flowers on graves. Jerome bestows the following commendation on Pammachius : " While other hus- bands throw thorns, lilies, violets, roses, and purple flowers upon the graves of their wives, our Pammachi- us waters the bones and hoi}' 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. 20). (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 ])robably arose out of a desire to "honor the first-fruits" of nature's moft beautiful productions, and may therefore be retained among things in themselves indiflferent. The modern Ritualists, however, carry this, as other things, to ex- cess.— Bingham, Orir/. Eccles. bk. xxiii, chap, iii, § 20; Walcot, Sacred Archmology, p. 280; Barrett, Flowers and Festivals, or Directions for the Floral Decoration of Churches (London, 1868).
Floy, James, D.D., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in the city of New York Aug. 20, 1806. He received his academical education at Columbia College, New York, but left collcga before graduating, and went to London, where he was for some time a student of botany and horticulture at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Returning to New York, he became a clerk in the Methodist Publishing House. In 1831 he joined the Bowery Village (now Seventh Street) Methodist Episcopal Church, and for some time acted as teacher and superintendent of a Sunday-school for colored persons under the care of that church. He was also appointed a class-leader ; was licensed to preach in February, 1833 ; was received into the trav- elling ministry as a probationer at the New York Con- ference of 1835, and appointed to Riverhead, Long Isl- and, N. Y. His subsequent appointments Mere : 183G- 37, Hempstead Circuit ; 1837-39, Harlem jNIission. He was an earnest abolitionist at a time when abolition- ism cost a man something ; and in 1838 he was cen- sui'ed by his Conference for attending an abolition Con- vention. He lived to see his principles triumph both in Church and State. At the Conference for 1839 he was ordained elder, and appointed to Kortright Cir- cuit, Delaware County, N. Y., but, on account of the illness of his wife, he was released from the appoint- ment. From 1840 to 1842 he was at Washington-street Church, Brooklyn ; 1842-44, Danbury, Conn. ; 1844- 40, Madison Street, New York ; 1847-48, Middletown, Conn. ; 1848-50, New Haven, Conn. ; 1850-52, Madi- son Street, New York, second time ; 1852-54, Twenty- seventh Street, New Yor«k ; 1854-5G, presiding elder of New York District ; 185G-G0, editor of National Maga- zine and Secretary of the Tract Society of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church ; 1801-63, Seventh Street, New York ; 18G3, Beekman Hill, New York. Three times his Conference elected him a delegate to the Generi-i Conference. His appointments during the twenty- four years of his pastoral life strongly indicate the high appreciation that was held of his merits ; and it is believed that he never failed to leave an}- charge better than when he came to it. He also took a lively interest in the general affairs of the Church ; was dili- gent in his attendance on the sessions of his Confer- ence, where his influence was always potent. As as- sistant secretary and secretary, he kept the Conferepce journals fourteen years. In 1848 he received the de- gree of D.D. from the Wesleyan University. As a preacher, he was clear, direct, and earnest ; eminently evangelical in doctrine ; in exhortation, pungent and effective; elevated in matter, and rigidl}' correct in style and manner. His death was sudden. On the evening of Oct. 14, 1863, in his study, with only a son with him, he was seized with apoplexy, and expired almost instantly. Dr. Floy was a man of powerful personal character, and of vigorous as well as acute in- tellect. His critical faculty was largely developed ; his personal culture was careful and thorough ; his English style was pure and clear to a rare degree. For twenty years he was a contributor to the Metho- dist Quarterly Review, and some of the best ai tides in that journal are from his pen. He was devoted to Sunday-schools, and wrote several liooks for the use of the schools, among them Harry Budd, a very suc- cessful juvenile tale. One of his most important la- bors was the editing of the Methodist Hyvin-book, a task assigned to a committee, of which Dr. Floy was the