Day 125 — Book 1, Chapter 14, §22

Yesterday: the rule for looking. Today: the rule for trusting. §21 gave two rules for reading creation and illustrated only the first (see God's perfections). §22 is the second course — the one closer to faith — and it ends Chapter 14 on its warmest note. Watch the movement: from the Architect of the stars to the Parent who stocked the nursery before the child arrived. Then watch the last sentence: a chain of that-clauses piles up and lands on one verb pair, love and serve.

Why examiners love it. Two exclamatory subjunctives (How ungrateful… were it to doubt…!), a negative inversion with litotes (Nor is it unimportant to observe), an elliptical did not [do this] that he might…, an archaic wanting = lacking, and a closing sentence whose parallel that-clauses are a trap for anyone who loses the main verb let us remember.

Today's 3 Big Points

1. How ADJ were it to V! — S5, S6. An exclamation built on a hypothetical: how ungrateful it would be to…. Formula 1.
2. Nor is it unimportant to observe, that… — S3. Nor + inversion, and a litotes (not unimportant = important). Formula 2.
3. The parallel that-chain after let us remember — S10: that the distribution… are in his hand… but that we are his sons…, that we may expect… and have full hope that…; that… we may address…; that thus allured… we may study. Formula 3.

Text traps. ⚠️ want/wanting (S9) = lack / lacking, not "desire". ⚠️ salutary (S4) = healthful, beneficial. ⚠️ antecedent to (S6) = prior to. ⚠️ delude (S8) = deceive, mock. ⚠️ donation (S8) = gift. ⚠️ allegiance (S10) = dutiful loyalty (here: a child's). ⚠️ allured (S10) = drawn, attracted (not "tempted to sin"). ⚠️ invocation (S1) = calling on God in prayer.

The other course which has a closer relation to faith remains to be considered—viz. that while we observe how God has destined all things for our good and salvation, we at the same time feel his power and grace, both in ourselves and in the great blessings which he has bestowed upon us; thence stirring up ourselves to confidence in him, to invocation, praise, and love. Moreover, as I lately observed, the Lord himself, by the very order of creation, has demonstrated that he created all things for the sake of man. Nor is it unimportant to observe, that he divided the formation of the world into six days, though it had been in no respect more difficult to complete the whole work, in all its parts, in one moment than by a gradual progression. But he was pleased to display his providence and paternal care towards us in this, that before he formed man, he provided whatever he foresaw would be useful and salutary to him. How ungrateful, then, were it to doubt whether we are cared for by this most excellent Parent, who we see cared for us even before we were born! How impious were it to tremble in distrust, lest we should one day be abandoned in our necessity by that kindness which, antecedent to our existence, displayed itself in a complete supply of all good things! Moreover, Moses tells us that everything which the world contains is liberally placed at our disposal. This God certainly did not that he might delude us with an empty form of donation. Nothing, therefore, which concerns our safety will ever be wanting. To conclude, in one word; as often as we call God the Creator of heaven and earth, let us remember that the distribution of all the things which he created are in his hand and power, but that we are his sons, whom he has undertaken to nourish and bring up in allegiance to him, that we may expect the substance of all good from him alone, and have full hope that he will never suffer us to be in want of things necessary to salvation, so as to leave us dependent on some other source; that in everything we desire we may address our prayers to him, and, in every benefit we receive, acknowledge his hand, and give him thanks; that thus allured by his great goodness and beneficence, we may study with our whole heart to love and serve him.

[THESIS]     S1        The 2nd course, closer to faith: all things destined for our good → we feel God's power and grace
                         → confidence, invocation, praise, love
[PROOF 1]    S2–S4     Creation's order shows all made for man; the SIX DAYS (not one moment) show paternal care:
                         God furnished everything useful BEFORE forming man
[INFERENCE]  S5–S6     Two exclamations: how ungrateful / impious to doubt or distrust such a Parent
[PROOF 2]    S7–S8     Moses: all the world's contents are placed at our disposal — not an empty form of donation
[CONCLUSION] S9        So nothing for our safety will be wanting
[APPLICATION] S10      Each time we say "Creator": expect all good from him alone (hope), pray (invocation),
                         give thanks (praise), love and serve (love)

Examiner's Eye. - ⚠️ Reason trap (S3): the six days are not because one moment was harder. The text says it had been in no respect more difficult to do it all at once; the six days show his care. - ⚠️ Direction trap (S5–S6): the exclamations are about our doubt and distrust being wrong, not about God being unreliable. - ⚠️ Scope trap (S7–S9): at our disposal means God has supplied us; it does not say we may use creation without thanks (S10 requires give him thanks). - ⚠️ Lexical trap (S9): wanting = lacking. An option reading will ever be wanting as "will ever be desired" is a classic wrong choice. - ⚠️ Fourfold-fruit trap (S1 vs S10): S1 lists confidence, invocation, praise, love; S10 re-expresses them as hope/expect, prayer, thanks, love-and-serve. Keep the mapping.

Formula 1 — Exclamation on a hypothetical: How ADJ were it to V!

How ADJ were it to V …!       = How ADJ it would be to V …!
How ungrateful, then, were it to doubt whether we are cared for…!      (S5)
How impious were it to tremble in distrust, lest we should…!           (S6)
⚠️ `were it to V` = `if it were to V` with `if` dropped and `were` moved before `it`; the clause is exclamatory, so NO question mark.
⚠️ The adjective comes first (`How impious`), as in any `How ADJ` exclamation.
⚠️ `lest` already means "for fear that… not": never add `not` (`lest we should be abandoned`).

Drill: How foolish it would be to trust the stars and not their Maker! → How foolish were it to trust the stars and not their Maker!

Formula 2 — Negative inversion + litotes: Nor is it ADJ-with-un- to V

Nor + V(aux) + S …        = And not … ; verb before the subject
Nor is it unimportant to observe, that…        (S3)   ⇒  It is also important to observe…
⚠️ `Nor` (like `neither`, `never`, `not only`) forces the inversion: `Nor is it…`, not *Nor it is…*.
⚠️ Litotes: `not unimportant` ≈ quite important (weaker, not fully "very important", but positive).
⚠️ `it` is dummy; `to observe, that…` is the real subject.

Drill: Nor is it unwise to give thanks for every meal. (Calvin theme: gratitude for providence.)

Formula 3 — The that-chain after let us remember

let us remember [that A], but [that B],  [that we may V1 … and V2 …]; [that … we may V3]; [that … we may V4]
S10:  that the distribution… are in his hand… , but that we are his sons…, that we may expect…; that… we may address…; that thus allured…, we may study…
⚠️ First two `that`'s = noun clauses (object of `remember`); the later `that … may` clauses = purpose (so that).
⚠️ Find the verb FIRST: `let us remember`. Everything else hangs from it.
⚠️ `in order that / that … may` = purpose; `so as to` = result/manner.

Drill: Let us remember that all things are from God, and that we are his children, that we may give thanks in every blessing.

The doctrine at stake. Chapter 14's last paragraph gives the Reformed answer to what is creation for? Not only to display God's greatness (§21's first course) but to make us children who trust. The pastoral conclusion is spelled out in S10: every use of the word Creator in the Creed should call up providence-as-fatherhood. Note the order Calvin chooses: doctrine of creation → doctrine of man in Ch. 15; the paragraph is the bridge, because it speaks of man as the purpose of the world (for the sake of man) before the next chapter describes him.

Lineage. The idea that creation is God's gift to man, and that the order of the six days shows preparation (sky, sea, land, plants, animals, then man) before the human arrives, is in Basil's and Ambrose's Hexaemeron, which Calvin recommended in §20. The point that God could have done everything instantly but chose six days appears in Augustine's tradition in a different form: Augustine famously read creation as instantaneous, with "days" as a way of presenting it to us, whereas Calvin (in his Genesis commentary, as far as I know) rejects an instantaneous reading and keeps six real days as an accommodation to us. Here Calvin only needs the pastoral point: the sequence shows care.

Later reception. The Heidelberg Catechism (Q&A 26, 1563) is the best-known echo: (paraphrase) the believer trusts God as Father to provide whatever is needed for body and soul. The Westminster Larger Catechism and later Reformed piety use the same chain (creation → providence → trust → prayer → thanks → service), and the Belgic Confession (art. 12–13) joins creation and providence in the same way. Treat these as later echoes, not as sources for reading S1–S10.

Over-reading guardrail. ⚠️ S9 (Nothing which concerns our safety will ever be wanting) is a promise about what concerns our safety (salvation), cf. S10 things necessary to salvation; it is not a promise of every wish or of prosperity. ⚠️ S7 (at our disposal) is about God's generosity, not human ownership without thanks: S10 ends in give him thanks and love and serve him. ⚠️ S3 does not say the six days are a scientific claim about duration; it says that God's choice of order shows paternal care. ⚠️ S10 does not move to Chapter 15 ideas: the image of God, the soul, and free will are the next chapter's business.

1. S1–S2 — Ps 8:3–8; Gen 1:26–30. "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet"; "Behold, I have given you every herb… to you it shall be for meat." Calvin reads the order of the six days (the world made ready, then man) as the real teaching of Moses on for the sake of man.
2. S3–S4 — Gen 1:1–2:3 (the six days). Creation is arranged in order, with man last; the repeated "God saw that it was good" is read here as a sign of care, not just of time.
3. S5–S6 — Ps 22:9–10; Ps 71:6; Isa 46:3–4. "Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb"; "Thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels." God's care before birth is the Psalmists' own argument for present trust.
4. S5–S6 — Rom 8:32; Matt 6:25–33; Luke 12:24–28. "He that spared not his own Son… how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"; the birds, the lilies, "your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." The argument from the greater to the lesser (a fortiori) is the one Calvin uses with How ungrateful… How impious.
5. S7 — Gen 1:29–30; Gen 9:2–3; Ps 115:16. "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you"; "The earth hath he given to the children of men." This is the Moses tells us of S7.
6. S8 — 1 Tim 4:3–5; Jas 1:17. "Every creature of God is good… sanctified by the word of God and prayer"; "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above." The gift is real and is received with thanks.
7. S9 — Ps 23:1; Ps 34:9–10; Phil 4:19. "I shall not want"; "they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing"; "my God shall supply all your need." The wanting of S9 is the Psalmists' want.
8. S10 — Ps 104:27–28; Ps 145:15–16; Ps 50:14, 23. "These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season"; "Thou openest thine hand"; "Offer unto God thanksgiving." address our prayers, acknowledge his hand, and give him thanks are the Psalter's pattern.

Calvin's habit here: Scripture is cited as the voice of the Father, not as a proof-text pile; the Psalms' trust-after-creation sequence is rebuilt in his own sentences.

① Grammar — which statement about the grammar of §22 is wrong?

(A) In S5, How ungrateful, then, were it to doubt… means how ungrateful it would be to doubt… and has no question mark. (B) In S3, Nor is it unimportant to observe uses negative inversion, and not unimportant means important. (C) In S6, lest we should one day be abandoned means for fear we might one day be abandoned. (D) In S9, will ever be wanting means will ever be wished for.

Answer: (D). Rationale: wanting is the archaic lacking: Nothing… will ever be wanting = nothing will ever be lacking. (A) Formula 1. (B) Formula 2. (C) correct: lest carries its own negative and takes should.

② Comprehension — which statement is consistent with §22?

(A) Calvin says God divided creation into six days because it would have been more difficult to complete the whole work in one moment. (B) Calvin says the six-day order shows God's paternal care, since he provided what would be useful before he formed man, so doubt of his care is ungrateful. (C) Calvin says that, since everything is placed at our disposal, we need not give thanks for it. (D) Calvin says that, since God supplies all good, prayer to him is unnecessary.

Answer: (B). Rationale: (A) direction flip — S3: it had been in no respect more difficult to do it in one moment; the six days show care, not difficulty. (C) scope-overreach — S10 says acknowledge his hand, and give him thanks. (D) direction flip — S10: that in everything we desire we may address our prayers to him.

③ Composition — apply Formula 1:

Rewrite as an exclamation using were it to: It would be impious to tremble in distrust of the Father who fed us before we were born.

Model answer: How impious were it to tremble in distrust of the Father who fed us before we were born! Rationale: How + adjective at the front, were it to V, exclamation mark in place of a period.

One-line summary: The second course of reading creation, closer to faith, sees that God destined all things for our good (viz.-clause): the six-day order shows his paternal care (Nor is it unimportant…), so to doubt or distrust such a Parent is ungrateful and impious (How ungrateful… were it to…), and whenever we say "Creator" we should expect all good from him, pray, give thanks, and love and serve him (the that-chain of S10).

Homework (10 min).

1. Structure restoration. Restore S5 to a plain sentence: How ungrateful were it to doubt whether we are cared for → It would be very ungrateful to doubt whether we are cared for.
2. Composition. Write one Nor is it unimportant to V sentence and one How ADJ were it to V! sentence on God's providence.
3. Preview (tomorrow). Chapter 15 begins (We have now to speak of the creation of man, not only because of all the works of God it is the noblest…) — watch the not only because… but… pairing and the shift from the cosmos to the human creature.

Where we stopped: Book 1, Ch. 14, §22 끝 (Chapter 14 완료). 다음은 Book 1, Ch. 15, §1.