Now we are commanded to reverence and to honour the same one, being persuaded that He is Word, Saviour, and Leader.
And, by Him, the we reverence the Father – not on special days, as some others, but doing this continually in our whole life, and in every way.
Certainly the elect race justified by the precept says, “Seven times a day have I praised Thee.”
Whence not in a specified place, or selected temple, or at certain festivals and on appointed days, but during his whole life, the True Christian in every place, even if he be alone by himself, and wherever he has any of those who have exercised the like faith, honours God.
That is, he acknowledges his gratitude for the knowledge of the way to live.
The presence of a good man, through the respect and reverence which he inspires, always improves him with whom he associates.
With much more reason does, therefore, does he who always holds uninterrupted converse with God by knowledge, life, and thanksgiving, grow at every step superior to himself in all respects—in conduct, in words, in disposition.
Such a one is persuaded that God is ever beside him, and does not suppose that He is confined in certain limited places; so that under the idea that at times he is without Him, he may indulge in excesses night and day.
Holding festival, then, in our whole life, persuaded that God is altogether on every side present, we cultivate our fields, praising; we sail the sea, hymning; in all the rest of our conversation we conduct ourselves according to rule.
The True Christian, then, is very closely allied to God, being at once grave and cheerful in all things—grave on account of the bent of his soul towards the Divinity, and cheerful on account of his consideration of the blessings of humanity which God hath given us.
[...] God knows and perceives all things—not the words only, but also the thought.
[...] Do not also volitions speak to God, uttering their voice? And are they not conveyed by conscience?
And what voice shall He wait for, who, according to His purpose, knows the elect already, even before his birth, knows what is to be as already existent?
Does not the light of power shine down to the very bottom of the whole soul; “the lamp of knowledge,” as the Scripture says, searching “the recesses”?
God is all ear and all eye, if we may be permitted to use these expressions.
Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215): Stromateis 7,7.
