The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-07-28
BRIDAL WREATHS.
IDEAS THAT PREVAILED ~ THE EARLY
DAYS OF CHRISTIANITY

\ writer in the Nineteenth Century SAYS:
In the early days Of Christianity the use
OF bridal wreaths was repudiated because it
was 80 intimately connected with the exces-
Ses Of heather teasts and Tertuliau chiefly
rested MS contention against ali manner OF
| crowns on the ground that they owed their
origin 70 falseh0od and idolatrous worship.
But by far the most interesting and curious
part Of the famous De Corona derived its
rugged force from the argument ofcongruitv;
the use OF wreaths was manitestly q viola
. ton Of the intentions o. nature. because the
organs provided To convey 70 the soul ot man
/ the special enjoyment attached TO the divine
gift OF flowers. which were the peculiar. or
AZ least principal material of wreaths, are
the organs of sight and smell. With sight
and smell, then, he says, make use OF flow
ers, Tor these are the senses by which they
are To be enjoyed, use them by means of the
eyes and nose. which are the members 10
which the senses belong. You have got the
thing from God, the mode OF it from the
world, bus an extraordinary mode does not
prevent the use OF the thing IN the common
way. Let flowers then 10th when fastened
into each other and tied together with
thread and rush. be what they are when
free, when loose-thIngs to be looked al any
Smelt.
You count it a crown, let Us saw. when
You have bunch of them bound together
IN series that you may enjoy them all at
once. Well, then, lay them in your bosom
II they are SO singularly pure and strew
them on your couch il they are so exquisite
ly soft; and consign them to your cup if
they are So perfectly harmless. Have the
pleasure of them in as many WAYS as they
appeal TO your senses. But what taste for
flower, what sense for anything belonging
to a crown but its band, have YOU in the
head, which Is able neither to distinguished
color, nor to iuhaie sweet perfumes, nor to
appreciate softuess 1t Is as much against
nature to long after flower with the head
As il Is to crave food with the ear. or sound
with the nostril But every thing which is
against nature deserves to be branded as
monstrous among all men, but with Us it is
to be condemned also as a sacrilege against
God, the Lord and Creator of nature. He
did not object TO flowers being placed in the
bosom, scattered on the couch, dropped in
the cup, though all these uses more than trOd
upon the heels of heather luxury, because,
judging between things agreeable to reason
and things opposed 10 it. They came under
the form-catcgory. Singularly enough, he
quite overlooks the reference in Wisdom
and Isaiah to festal wreaths, and concludes
that the people of God never INDUCED in
the use of them either on the occasion Of
public rejoicing or to CRAFTY criminal lux
ury
80 they returned from the Babylouish
captivity with timbrels and flutes, and
psalteries more suitably than with crowns !
and after eating and drinking uncrowned |
they rose up to play. For neither would |
the account OF the rejoicing nor the expos |
ure Of the luxury have been silent touching |
the honor or dishonor Of the crown" But |
when ''uncrowued they rose up ito play, the |
people were in the desert. Thus, too, + |
liah," he continues, with timbrels and /
psalteries, and flutes, they drink wine, |
would have added with crowns, if this prac-
ice ever had place in the things of God |
Clement of Alexandria likewise declamed |
against the unhtness of setting crowns of
lowers above the organs of sight and smell:
DO not encircle my head with a crown,
or in syring time it Is delightful to while
Iway the time on the dewy meads, while
oft and many c0lOred flowers are in bloom
md like the bees, enjoy a natural and pure
fragrance. But to adorn ones SELF with a
crown woven from the fresh mead and
wear it at home were unfit for a moe, Of tenn
,erance. For it is not suitable to I'll the
vanton hair with rose leaves, or violets, or
lies, other such flowers, stripping the
ward Of its flowers. Besides,
hose who crown themselves destroy the
pleasure there is in flowers fsr they enjoy
either the sight of them since the wear the
rown above their eyes, nor their fragrance,
ince they put the flowers away above the
rgans of respiration. As beauty, so also !
he 1owOr delights when looked at, and it Is
acct to glorify the Creator by the ENJOY
lent Of the sight Of beautiful objects"