Pagan Reasons for Observing Sunday.
Pagan philosophy as a source of argument in favor of the observance of Sunday is made still more prominent by Clement of Alexandria, as follows:
“And the Lord’s day Plato prophetically speaks of in the tenth book of the Republic, in these words: ‘And when seven days have passed to each of them in the meadow, on the eighth they are to set out and arrive in four days.’ By the meadow is to be understood the fixed sphere, as being a mild and genial spot, and the locality of the pious; and by the seven days each motion of the seven planets, and the whole practical art which speeds to the end of rest. But after the wandering orbs the journey leads to heaven, that is, to the eighth motion and day. And he says that souls are gone on the fourth day, pointing out the passage through the four elements. But the seventh day is recognized as sacred, not by the Hebrews only, but also by the Greeks; according to which the whole world of all animals and plants revolve. Hesiod says of it:
“‘The first, and fourth, and seventh day were held sacred.’
“And again:
“‘And on the seventh the sun’s resplendent orb.’
“And Homer:
“‘And on the seventh, then came the sacred day.’
“And:
“‘The seventh was sacred.’
“And again:
“‘It was the seventh day, and all things were accomplished.’
“And again:
“‘And on the seventh morn we leave the stream of Acheron.’
“Callimachus the poet also writes:
“‘It was the seventh morn, and they had all things done.’
“And again:
“‘Among good days is the seventh day, and the seventh race.’
“And:
“‘The seventh is among the prime, and the seventh is perfect.’
“And:
“‘Now all the seven were made in starry heaven,
In circles shining as the years appear.’
“The Elegies of Solon, too, intensely deify the seventh day. And how? Is it not similar to Scripture when it says, ‘Let us remove the righteous man from us, because he is troublesome to us?’ When Plato, all but predicting the economy of salvation, says in the second book of the Republic, as follows: ‘Thus he who is constituted just shall be scourged, shall be stretched on the rack, shall be bound, have his eyes put out; and, at last, having suffered all evils, shall be crucified.’”[170]
A similar combination of pagan error and wild speculation is found in another of Clement’s works, where he discusses reasons for fasting on Wednesday and on Friday, and also considers how one may keep Sunday. Writing of the “True Gnostic,” Clement says:
“He knows also the enigmas of the fasting of those days—I mean the Fourth and the Preparation. For the one has its name from Hermes, and the other from Aphrodite. He fasts in his life, in respect of covetousness and voluptuousness, from which all the vices grow. For we have already often above shown the three varieties of fornication, according to the apostle—love of pleasure, love of money, idolatry. He fasts then, according to the law, abstaining from bad deeds, and according to the perfection of the Gospel, from evil thoughts. Temptations are applied to him, not for his purification, but, as we have said, for the good of his neighbors, if, making trial of toils and pains, he has despised and passed them by.
“The same holds of pleasure. For it is the highest achievement for one who has had trial of it, afterwards to abstain. For what great thing is it, if a man restrains himself in what he knows not? He, in fulfilment of the precept according to the Gospel, keeps the Lord’s day, when he abandons an evil disposition, and assumes that of the Gnostic, glorifying the Lord’s resurrection in himself. Further also when he has received the comprehension of scientific speculation, he deems that he sees the Lord, directing his eyes towards things invisible, although he seems to look on what he does not wish to look on; chastising the faculty of vision, when he perceives himself pleasurably affected by the application of his eyes; since he wishes to see and hear that alone which concerns him.”[171]