Day 14 — Institutes I.5.§2 [직강]

Yesterday Calvin threw the universe open: God's glory engraven on every work, so plainly that none, however dull, can plead ignorance. That was the wide shot. Today, §2, is the close-up — and it carries a polemical edge you must not miss. Calvin's question now is: who gets to read the book of creation? The Enlightenment answer (coming a century later) will be "the educated, the scientist, the astronomer." Calvin's answer is the opposite and deliberate: the proofs of God's wisdom force themselves on the notice of the most illiterate peasant. Science helps — it gives "a deeper insight" — but it is not the entrance ticket. Every pair of working eyes already has all the evidence it needs. Underline that move: he honors astronomy and medicine, then refuses to let them monopolize the knowledge of God. The witness is democratic.

Grammatically, today is heavy-subject day — Calvin keeps stacking infinitives at the front of a sentence and making them the subject, then dropping a single verb on the pile. Plus the double-negative returns (now as "no man is incapacitated," "none can be ignorant"), and a new engine: the as … so … correspondence.

Today's 3 Big Points — mark them now:

1. A string of infinitives as a single subject → singular verb: "To investigate the motions … to determine their positions, measure their distances, and ascertain their properties, demands skill" and "To determine the connection of its parts … requires singular acuteness." Four infinitive jobs, one verb, and it is singular (demands / requires) — the cluster is treated as one thing.
2. "as … so …" correspondence (the more X, the loftier Y): "as the Providence of God is thereby more fully unfolded, so it is reasonable to suppose that the mind takes a loftier flight." As = "to the degree that"; so answers it = "to that same degree."
3. Double negative / litotes = emphatic universal + concessive subjunctive "though he be": "No man, however, though he be ignorant of these, is incapacitated for discerning such proofs" = every man, even the unlearned, can discern them. "None … can be ignorant of the divine skill" = everyone perceives it. Cancel the two negatives → a universal.

Three engines. Lock them in. Now read.

In attestation of his wondrous wisdom, both the heavens and the earth present us with innumerable proofs not only those more recondite proofs which astronomy, medicine, and all the natural sciences, are designed to illustrate, but proofs which force themselves on the notice of the most illiterate peasant, who cannot open his eyes without beholding them. It is true, indeed, that those who are more or less intimately acquainted with those liberal studies are thereby assisted and enabled to obtain a deeper insight into the secret workings of divine wisdom. No man, however, though he be ignorant of these, is incapacitated for discerning such proofs of creative wisdom as may well cause him to break forth in admiration of the Creator. To investigate the motions of the heavenly bodies, to determine their positions, measure their distances, and ascertain their properties, demands skill, and a more careful examination; and where these are so employed, as the Providence of God is thereby more fully unfolded, so it is reasonable to suppose that the mind takes a loftier flight, and obtains brighter views of his glory. Still, none who have the use of their eyes can be ignorant of the divine skill manifested so conspicuously in the endless variety, yet distinct and well ordered array, of the heavenly host; and, therefore, it is plain that the Lord has furnished every man with abundant proofs of his wisdom. The same is true in regard to the structure of the human frame. To determine the connection of its parts, its symmetry and beauty, with the skill of a Galen (Lib. De Usu Partium), requires singular acuteness; and yet all men acknowledge that the human body bears on its face such proofs of ingenious contrivance as are sufficient to proclaim the admirable wisdom of its Maker.

Seven sentences. Thesis (two tiers of proof) → concession to the learned → the democratic claim → the scientist's bonus → the verdict for everyone → the second arena (the body) → the body's verdict:

[THESIS]     heaven & earth give proofs: recondite (science) AND obvious (peasant)  (S1)
[CONCEDE]    yes — the learned gain a deeper insight into divine wisdom              (S2)
[CLAIM]      BUT no man, even unlearned, is shut out from discerning the proofs      (S3)
[BONUS]      study demands skill; as Providence unfolds, the mind flies higher       (S4)
[VERDICT-1]  STILL none with eyes can miss it → God has furnished EVERY man          (S5)
[ARENA-2]    the same holds for the human body                                       (S6)
[VERDICT-2]  a Galen's skill to map it; yet ALL men see the Maker's contrivance      (S7)

Examiner's Eye: the trap field is the relation between science and the common eye. Calvin grants two things at once and an examiner will try to make him say only one. He concedes that the learned obtain a deeper insight (S2) and that careful study makes the mind take a loftier flight (S4) — so he is not anti-intellectual. But the main thesis (S1, S3, S5) is that the proofs force themselves on the most illiterate peasant and that no man … is incapacitated for discerning them — so knowledge of God is not gated behind science. An option that says "Calvin holds only the educated can know God from creation" reverses S1/S3/S5; an option that says "Calvin dismisses astronomy and medicine as useless" overshoots S2/S4 (he calls them genuinely helpful). Hold both: science deepens, but the eye alone already suffices.

Star scale: ★★★ exam-critical, conquer it. ★★ know the structure. ★ one point and move.

Formula 1 — a string of infinitives as ONE subject → singular verb:

[To V₁ …, to V₂ …, V₃ …, and V₄ …]  +  SINGULAR VERB
"To investigate the motions …, to determine their positions, measure their
 distances, and ascertain their properties,  DEMANDS  skill."
"To determine the connection of its parts … REQUIRES singular acuteness."
→ the whole cluster = one notional subject ("the doing of all this") = singular

⚠️ Do not be fooled by the plural-looking pileup into writing demand / require. A coordinated infinitive (or gerund) subject naming a single activity takes a singular verb. Also note the to need not repeat: to determine … measure … and ascertain (one to covers the series). Drill: To weigh the planets, chart their orbits, and read their light demands patience. (singular demands)

Formula 2 — "as … so …" correspondence (proportion, not time):

AS + [clause X] , SO + [clause Y]
"as the Providence of God is thereby more fully unfolded,
 so it is reasonable to suppose that the mind takes a loftier flight"
= to the degree that X happens, to that same degree Y follows

⚠️ This as = "to the extent/degree that," and so answers it ("to that same degree"). Do not read this as as "because" or "while." The pair is correlative — if you see a fronted as-clause, look downstream for its answering so. Drill: As the telescope reveals more stars, so the mind is lifted to greater wonder.

Formula 3 — double negative / litotes = emphatic universal (+ concessive subjunctive "though he be"):

NO man … is INcapacitated for V-ing   ⟺   every man IS able to V
NONE … can be IGNORANT of X            ⟺   everyone perceives X
… though he BE ignorant …              =   even granting that he is ignorant (concessive subj.)

⚠️ Cancel the two negatives and add "every / necessarily." The concessive subjunctive be (not is) signals "even if it be granted that …" — archaic but exam-friendly. Pair it with the such … as relative (such proofs as may cause him … = proofs of the kind that may …). Drill: None who reflect, however unlearned they be, can be ignorant of the Maker.

The polemic: knowledge of God is not gated behind science. §2 is built around a tension Calvin holds on purpose. On one side he honors learning: the liberal studies give a deeper insight into the secret workings of divine wisdom (S2), and careful astronomical work means the mind takes a loftier flight (S4). On the other side he refuses to let learning gatekeep: the proofs force themselves on the most illiterate peasant (S1), no man … is incapacitated for discerning them (S3), none who have the use of their eyes can be ignorant (S5). The doctrine underneath is the universality and sufficiency of general revelation: it reaches every man, learned or not, because its purpose (set in §1, sealed at Rom 1:20) is to leave all without excuse. If knowledge of God from creation required a degree in astronomy, the unschooled would have an alibi — and Calvin's whole inculpatory argument would collapse. So the democratic reach of the proof is not a throwaway; it is load-bearing.

Two arenas: the heavens and the human frame. Notice the architecture you already met in §1: Calvin argues from the macrocosm (the heavenly host, S1–S5) and then the microcosm (the human body, S6–S7). This is not loose — Calvin's own chapter summary (the one Beveridge prints at the head of Ch. 5) lists §2 as treating "the admirable motions of the heavens and the earth, the symmetry of the human body, and the connection of its parts." The body as a theater of divine wisdom is an ancient and patristic commonplace, and Calvin will develop it in §§3–4 (where, in §3, "certain of the philosophers have not improperly called man a microcosm"). Keep the frame: §2 introduces both exhibits; the body argument is just beginning here.

Why Galen? Calvin's name-drop is precise, not decorative. Galen of Pergamon (2nd c. AD), the towering ancient physician-anatomist, wrote De Usu Partium (On the Use of the Parts of the Body) — a work that reads the body's design teleologically, as evidence of a wise Maker. Galen, a pagan, was famous for turning anatomy into something like a hymn to the Creator's foresight. Calvin's point is sharpened by the choice: it takes a Galen's skill to map the body scientifically (S7's concession), and yet even Galen's pagan science ends in acknowledging design — which all men, with or without the science, can see on its face. The reference quietly enlists the greatest ancient anatomist as a witness for the prosecution.

Guardrail — this is still revelation read for inculpation, not a self-standing natural theology. As in §1, do not over-read §2 into the later Enlightenment "argument from design" that proves God independently of Scripture. Calvin's proofs function the way Romans 1 functions: they render humanity inexcusable and, for the regenerate, feed piety (recall §1's frame and Day 6's point that the sensus divinitatis exists to make us without excuse). The deeper insight science yields (S2, S4) still terminates in his glory (S4) — doxology, not autonomous proof. Calvin honors science; he does not baptize the project of knowing God apart from his Word.

§2 carries no direct chapter-and-verse quotation — it is the "innumerable proofs" argument, leaning on the witnesses already established in §1 — but its language is saturated with the same biblical theology. Track the echoes:

1. Romans 1:19–20 — the controlling text behind every sentence. §1 quoted it explicitly ("the invisible things of him … are clearly seen … even his eternal power and Godhead"); §2 simply applies it. The most illiterate peasant … cannot open his eyes without beholding the proofs (S1) and no man … is incapacitated for discerning them (S3) are Calvin's gloss on Paul's anapologētous ("without excuse"): the revelation reaches all, so all are accountable. How Calvin uses Scripture: he turns Paul's verdict into an anthropology — even the unlearned are inside the courtroom.

2. Psalm 19:1–4 — the "language all nations understand" still humming under S5. §1 cited Psalm 19 directly; in S5 the divine skill manifested so conspicuously in the endless variety, yet distinct and well ordered array, of the heavenly host is the same "the heavens declare the glory of God" — wordless, universal speech that none with eyes can miss.

3. Psalm 139:14 — the unspoken backdrop to S6–S7. "I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works." Calvin's claim that the human body bears on its face such proofs of ingenious contrivance as are sufficient to proclaim the admirable wisdom of its Maker (S7) is the doctrinal cousin of the Psalmist's wonder at his own fashioning — the body itself as testimony.

4. Acts 17:27–28 — the reach Calvin is pressing. Paul on the Areopagus: God made every nation "that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us." Calvin's insistence that the proofs reach every man (S5) runs along the same line — the witness is placed within reach of all, not a learned few. (Calvin will quote Aratus from this very passage a few sentences later, in §5.)

문제 ① 어법 — 밑줄 친 부분 중 틀린 것은?

(A) To trace the connection of the body's parts and measure its symmetry (B) demand singular acuteness; and yet, (C) as the design is more fully unfolded, so the mind is lifted — for no man, (D) though he be unlearned, is shut out from it.

✨ 답안 보기 (클릭)정답: (B). The subject is a coordinated infinitive cluster — To trace … and measure … — naming a single activity, so it takes a singular verb: demands, not demand (Formula 1). (A) is correct: one to covers the series (to trace … [to] measure). (C) is the as … so … correspondence (Formula 2 — correct). (D) is the concessive subjunctive though he be (Formula 3 — correct). 출제 의도: 부정사 묶음 주어가 복수처럼 보여도 단수 동사를 받는다는 점을 (B)에 함정으로 깔고, Formula 2·3를 정답 분산용으로 배치.

문제 ② 내용일치 — §2와 일치하는 것은?

(A) Calvin holds that only those trained in astronomy and medicine can discern the proofs of God's wisdom in creation. (B) Calvin dismisses the liberal studies as useless for knowing God, since the unlearned see just as much. (C) Calvin grants that the learned gain a deeper insight into divine wisdom, yet insists that no man, even the unlearned, is incapacitated for discerning proofs enough to admire the Creator. (D) Calvin argues that the human body, unlike the heavens, yields no proof of its Maker without a Galen's dissection.

✨ 답안 보기 (클릭)정답: (C) — S2·S3·S4·S7 종합: 배운 자는 a deeper insight(S2)·a loftier flight(S4)를 얻지만, no man … though he be ignorant … is incapacitated for discerning(S3), 몸도 all men acknowledge … such proofs … as are sufficient(S7). (A)는 S1·S3·S5 정면 뒤집기 — 가장 무학한 농부도 cannot open his eyes without beholding. (B)는 S2·S4 과대해석(반대 방향) — 칼빈은 학문을 유용하다 인정. (D)는 S7 뒤집기 — Galen의 기술은 해부에 필요할 뿐, all men이 표면의 증거를 인정함. 출제 의도: 과학의 "심화" 인정과 만인 접근성을 동시에 붙잡는지, 양방향 함정으로 검증.

문제 ③ 영작 — Formula 1 적용.

"별들을 관측하고, 그 거리를 재고, 그 운동을 추적하는 일은 기술을 요한다" — 부정사 묶음을 주어로 하여 단수 동사로 옮겨라.

✨ 답안 보기 (클릭)모범답안: To observe the stars, measure their distances, and trace their motions demands skill. (= The doing of all this calls for skill.) 출제 의도: 등위 부정사 묶음이 하나의 주어로 묶여 단수 동사(demands)를 받는다는 점. demand로 쓰면 수일치 오류로 감점이며, 두 번째·세 번째 부정사의 to는 생략 가능(to observe … measure … and trace). (S4의 To investigate … demands skill, S7의 To determine … requires singular acuteness 구조 그대로.)

One-line summary: Creation gives proofs in two grades — the recondite ones science unfolds and the obvious ones that force themselves on the most illiterate peasant — and though the learned win a deeper insight and a loftier flight, no man is incapacitated for discerning enough to admire the Maker; the same holds for the human frame, where it takes a Galen's skill to map it and yet all men read the design on its face; and you now own the day's three engines — the infinitive cluster as a singular subject, the as … so … correspondence, and the double-negative-for-emphasis with the concessive "though he be."

Homework (10 min):

1. Structure restoration: Take S4's first half — To investigate the motions of the heavenly bodies, to determine their positions, measure their distances, and ascertain their properties, demands skill — and (a) mark all four infinitive jobs, (b) underline the single verb, (c) explain in one line why it is demands, not demand.
2. Composition: Using Formula 2 (as … so …), write one sentence: "현미경이 더 많은 것을 드러낼수록, 그만큼 마음은 창조주께로 들려 올라간다." (Hint: As the microscope reveals more, so the mind is lifted to the Creator.)
3. Preview: Tomorrow is Book 1, Chapter 5, §3 — Calvin presses the body argument: "certain of the philosophers have not improperly called man a microcosm" — man as a little world, a compend of God's wisdom, with Paul's Aratus quotation ("We are his offspring," Acts 17:28) on the horizon. The witness narrows from the body's structure to man himself as the masterpiece.

Where we stopped: Book 1, Ch. 5, §2 끝. 다음은 Book 1, Ch. 5, §3 (Day 15).