The Complete Testimony of the Fathers of the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and First DayAndrews, John Nevins
Religion
The Complete Testimony of the Fathers of the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and First Day
Andrews, John Nevins
Sabbath; Seventh-Day Adventists; Sunday
"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 day 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 the 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." Book v. chap. xiv.
By the eighth day to which Clement here applies the name of Lord's day
the first day is possibly intended, though he appears to speak solely
of mystical days. But having said thus much in behalf of the eighth
day, he in the very next sentence commences to establish from the Greek
writers the sacredness of that seventh day which the Hebrews hallowed.
This shows that whatever regard he might have for the eighth day, he
certainly cherished the seventh day as sacred. Thus he continues:--
"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 revolves. Hesiod says of it:--
"'The first, and fourth, and seventh days 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." Book
v. chap. xiv.
Some of these quotations are not now found in the writings which
Clement cites. And whether or not he rightly applies them to
the seventh-day Sabbath, the fact that he does so apply them is
incontestible proof that he honored that day as sacred, whatever might
also be his regard for that day which he distinguishes as the eighth.
In book vi., chapter v., he alludes to the celebration of some of the
annual sabbaths. And in chapter xvi., he thus speaks of the fourth
commandment:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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