Day 62 — Book 1, Chapter 11, §7

Third and final answer to the "books of the unlearned" plea — and Calvin saves his most dangerous witnesses for last: the images themselves. Scripture ruled in §5. The fathers ruled in §6. Today the pictures and statues take the stand — and they incriminate their owners by their own wardrobe. Look at the audacity of the comparison Calvin dares to print: brothels exhibit their inmates more chastely and modestly dressed than churches do images intended to represent virgins. Sixteenth-century readers gasped at that line. He is saying: walk your "holy" images into the street and they would be arrested for indecency (S5 — the pillory!). Some "books."

But don't stop at the demolition, because the second half of the section is the keeper. Calvin pivots (S10) from what God forbids to what God commands: the doctrine set forth by the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments. Underline that pairing. Calvin is not replacing pictures with mere talk — he is replacing man-made images with God-instituted signs. And then the thunderbolt (S17): Paul says that in true preaching Christ is portrayed and in a manner crucified before our eyes (Gal. 3:1). Paul's own Greek verb is a painting verb. The Reformed church is not against the picture of Christ — it possesses the only portrait God ever commissioned: the preached cross. One doctrine, says S19, teaches more than a thousand crosses of wood and stone.

Today's 3 Big Points

1. The Were + S + to-V inverted conditional — TWICE (S2, S5). were I to admit the plea, it would not be a valid defence / Were any one to dress himself after their model, he would deserve the pillory. Drop the if, front the were, follow with a to-infinitive: the hypothetical-future conditional. Two live specimens in one section means this is today's exam certainty.
2. Fronted-complement inversion (S10). Very different from these follies is the doctrine… — the adjective phrase marches to the front, the verb follows, and the true subject hides at the END. Ask a student "what is the subject of is?" and half the room grabs follies. Don't be half the room.
3. Archaic want = LACK (S14). there are not a few in the present day who cannot want such books — cannot want = cannot do without, cannot lack. Read it as "cannot desire" and the sentence flips into nonsense. This is the direction-reversing trap word of the day.

Bonus traps I will test: dumb (S16) = mute, speechless — not stupid; and watch the irony, because in the prophets it is the idols that are dumb (Hab. 2:18), and Calvin hangs the word on the clergy. too and fro (S11) — the source's own spelling of to and fro; we quote texts as they stand. becoming (S7) = fitting, seemly (from become = to suit). in a manner (S17) = as it were. viz. (S18) = videlicet, "namely." rudeness (S12) = lack of training — nobody is being impolite.

7. Let Papists, then, if they have any sense of shame, henceforth desist from the futile plea, that images are the books of the unlearned—a plea so plainly refuted by innumerable passages of Scripture. And yet were I to admit the plea, it would not be a valid defence of their peculiar idols. It is well known what kind of monsters they obtrude upon us as divine. For what are the pictures or statues to which they append the names of saints, but exhibitions of the most shameless luxury or obscenity? Were any one to dress himself after their model, he would deserve the pillory. Indeed, brothels exhibit their inmates more chastely and modestly dressed than churches do images intended to represent virgins. The dress of the martyrs is in no respect more becoming. Let Papists then have some little regard to decency in decking their idols, if they would give the least plausibility to the false allegation, that they are books of some kind of sanctity. But even then we shall answer, that this is not the method in which the Christian people should be taught in sacred places. Very different from these follies is the doctrine in which God would have them to be there instructed. His injunction is, that the doctrine common to all should there be set forth by the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments,—a doctrine to which little heed can be given by those whose eyes are carried too and fro gazing at idols. And who are the unlearned, whose rudeness admits of being taught by images only? Just those whom the Lord acknowledges for his disciples; those whom he honours with a revelation of his celestial philosophy, and desires to be trained in the saving mysteries of his kingdom. I confess, indeed, as matters now are, there are not a few in the present day who cannot want such books. But, I ask, whence this stupidity, but just because they are defrauded of the only doctrine which was fit to instruct them? The simple reason why those who had the charge of churches resigned the office of teaching to idols was, because they themselves were dumb. Paul declares, that by the true preaching of the gospel Christ is portrayed and in a manner crucified before our eyes (Gal. 3:1). Of what use, then, were the erection in churches of so many crosses of wood and stone, silver and gold, if this doctrine were faithfully and honestly preached—viz. Christ died that he might bear our curse upon the tree, that he might expiate our sins by the sacrifice of his body, wash them in his blood, and, in short, reconcile us to God the Father? From this one doctrine the people would learn more than from a thousand crosses of wood and stone. As for crosses of gold and silver, it may be true that the avaricious give their eyes and minds to them more eagerly than to any heavenly instructor.

Sentence count: 20 (S1–S20). One paragraph.

Source housekeeping (page furniture removed, text otherwise character-exact): the page number 96 (after innumerable, S1) was removed; the §6 footnote block (29–31), the page number 100, and the running chapter header fell mid-section between The dress of the and martyrs (S7) and were removed; the end-of-line hyphenations injunc-tion (S11) and acknow-ledges (S13) were rejoined to injunction and acknowledges. too and fro (S11) is the source's own reading and is retained verbatim. No footnote markers fall inside this §. The em-dashes in unlearned—a plea, sacraments,—a doctrine, and preached—viz. are the source's own.

[VERDICT ON     S1   drop the plea — Scripture has already refuted it (recap §§5–6)
 THE PLEA]      S2   even were it granted → no defence of THEIR idols
[THE IMAGES     S3   what they obtrude as divine: monsters
 TESTIFY]       S4   saints' pictures/statues = shameless luxury or obscenity
                S5   dress like that in public → the pillory
                S6   brothels dress inmates more modestly than churches their "virgins"
                S7   martyrs' images no more becoming
                S8   at least deck the idols decently — IF the "books" claim is to look plausible
[GOD'S          S9   even then: NOT the method for teaching in sacred places
 METHOD]        S10  ← PIVOT: very different is the doctrine God commands
                S11  His injunction: preaching of the WORD + the SACRAMENTS
[WHO ARE THE    S12  and who are these "unlearned," teachable only by pictures?
 UNLEARNED?]    S13  the Lord's own disciples — heirs of celestial philosophy
                S14  concession: many today cannot WANT (= lack) such books —
                S15  whence the stupidity? they are DEFRAUDED of the only fit doctrine
                S16  pastors resigned teaching to idols because they themselves were DUMB
[THE TRUE       S17  Paul: in true preaching Christ is portrayed, crucified before our eyes
 IMAGE]         S18  what use a thousand crosses, were the cross truly preached? (viz. the gospel)
                S19  one doctrine > a thousand crosses of wood and stone
                S20  gold crosses DO win eager students — the avaricious (ironic dismount)

Examiner's Eye — three traps I would build from this section

Trap 1 — the want flip on S14. A test-writer will offer: "Calvin denies that anyone in his day needs images as books." False. S14 confesses the opposite — "there are not a few in the present day who cannot want such books" = many today cannot do without them. But watch the second layer: the option "many people today have no desire for such books" is equally false, because it mistranslates the archaic want. One trap word, two dead options. This is why S14 wears three stars.

Trap 2 — the function flip on S8. "Calvin advises the church to adorn its images more beautifully." False. S8 is an ironic entrance requirement, not interior-decorating advice: IF the "books of sanctity" claim is to have the least plausibility, decency is the minimum — and the plea already fails the minimum. Quoting real words while reversing their function: the concessive trap you drilled yesterday, back in a new coat.

Trap 3 — the irony flip on S20. "Calvin concedes that crosses of gold and silver at least have instructive value." False — sarcasm read straight. The only students gold crosses win are the avaricious, and the only lesson taught is covetousness. If an option turns a sneer into a concession, kill it.

Formula 1 — the Were + S + to-V inverted conditional (S2, S5)

Were + S + to-V ~ , S′ + would/might/should + V
= If + S + were + to-V ~ , S′ + would + V
  (hypothetical future; drop "if," invert "were"; WERE for every person)

⚠️ Traps:
  ① were → was 교체 함정: inversion에서는 인칭 불문 WERE.
  ② 주절 조동사는 과거형(would/might) — will/may가 오면 오답.
  ③ "Were I to admit" = 양보적 가정(arguendo)일 수 있다 — 인정이 아니다.

Transformation drill: If the church were to lose the preaching of the Word, no army of statues would restore her sight. → Were the church to lose the preaching of the Word, no army of statues would restore her sight.

Formula 2 — fronted-complement inversion (S10)

[Adj/Comp phrase] + BE + Subject
e.g. Very different from these follies IS the doctrine (…).
= The doctrine (…) is very different from these follies.

⚠️ Traps:
  ① BE의 수일치는 "뒤에 오는" 진짜 주어와 한다 (doctrine → is; follies 아님!).
  ② 무거운 주어(관계절 달린)를 뒤로 보내는 end-weight + 화제 전환 기능.

Transformation drill: The reverence that springs from true knowledge is very different from superstition. → Very different from superstition is the reverence that springs from true knowledge.

Formula 3 — the mandative that-clause after nouns of command (S11)

His injunction/command/order + is + that + S + (should) + V원형/be p.p.
e.g. His injunction is, that the doctrine … should there be set forth …

⚠️ Traps:
  ① that절 안은 should + V 또는 원형(가정법 현재) — 직설법 is/are가 오면 어색.
  ② Beveridge식 "is, that"의 콤마는 house style — 오류 아님.

Transformation drill: His command is that the gospel should be set forth to all nations by the preaching of the Word.

The plea on trial. Around 599–600 Gregory the Great wrote two letters to Serenus, bishop of Marseilles, who had been smashing images in his churches: don't adore them, Gregory said, but don't destroy them either — "what writing presents to readers, a picture presents to the unlearned who behold it." That sentence became the medieval charter for church imagery: images are the books of the unlearned. Calvin has spent three sections dismantling it in courtroom order — §5: Scripture rules images out as teachers of falsehood; §6: the older fathers and Elvira rule against them, with Augustine and even pagan Varro concurring; §7 today: (3) the images themselves testify — their "meretricious ornaments" disqualify them on sight — and (4) God has appointed a different method altogether.

The positive doctrine is the real center. Notice that Calvin's decisive move is not iconoclasm but pedagogy: S11's pairing of Word preached + sacraments administered is the Reformed definition of how God teaches his church (it will flower in Book 4 as the marks of the true church). The sacraments matter enormously here: Calvin's God is not anti-visual — baptism and the Supper are visible words (Augustine's own phrase, verbum visibile). The antithesis is man-devised images vs. God-instituted signs. And S17's reading of Gal. 3:1 (προεγράφη — Christ "placarded" in preaching) supplies the positive theory of the only authorized portrait.

Reception — hear the echo in the catechism. Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Q. 98: "But may not images be tolerated in churches as books for the laity? No; for we must not pretend to be wiser than God, who will have his people taught, not by dumb idols, but by the lively preaching of his Word." That is this very section, compressed — down to the word dumb. The Second Helvetic Confession (1566) runs the same line. On the other side, Trent (Session 25, 1563) reaffirmed images' didactic use with abuses corrected — the two confessional roads split exactly at this argument. Modern heirs of Calvin's point (preaching as the church's true visibility) run through Barth's doctrine of proclamation.

Over-reading guardrail. Do not turn Calvin into an enemy of art. In §12 — five days from now — he will say plainly that sculpture and painting are gifts of God and mark out their lawful use. Today's target is precise: images of God, images in worship, and the claim that they can do the Word's teaching job. Nor does S6's brothel comparison make Calvin a prude scoring cheap points: he is testing the plea's own premise (a book of sanctity must at minimum be decent) against the actual inventory of late-medieval and Renaissance church art. Keep the argument's edges sharp and its scope narrow — that's how Calvin cut it.

1. Gal. 3:1 — S17 (explicit citation). "O foolish Galatians… before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you." The verb προεγράφη (proegraphē) = publicly placarded, painted up on a notice-board. Calvin's use: the apostle's own metaphor makes preaching the God-commissioned portraiture of Christ — the plank on which the whole positive argument stands.
2. Gal. 3:13 / Deut. 21:23 / 1 Pet. 2:24 — S18 ("bear our curse upon the tree"). "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" — with Peter's ἐπὶ τὸ ξύλον ("on the tree") supplying the wording. Calvin's creed-in-a-question quotes Scripture's own atonement grammar.
3. Hab. 2:18–19 (cf. 1 Cor. 12:2) — S16 (echo). The prophet mocks the maker who says to the dumb stone, "Arise, it shall teach!" — and Paul remembers the Corinthians "carried away unto these dumb idols." Calvin's use: savage transfer — the idol's defining defect (mute) is pinned on the clergy who hired idols to teach.
4. Matt. 13:11 — S13 ("the saving mysteries of his kingdom"). "It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom (τὰ μυστήρια τῆς βασιλείας)." Calvin's use: the "unlearned" hold Christ's own student ID — picture-books demote whom God promoted.
5. 1 Cor. 1:21; 2:6–7 — S13, S15 (echo). God's wisdom, hidden from the wise, given by "the foolishness of preaching" — behind both celestial philosophy and the claim that preaching is the only doctrine fit to instruct.
6. 2 Cor. 5:18–19; Rev. 1:5 — S18 ("reconcile us to God… wash them in his blood"). καταλλάσσω (reconcile) and "washed us from our sins in his own blood" — the last two clauses of the viz.-creed, each a verbatim biblical cadence.

① Grammar — one of the four underlined parts is WRONG. Find it.

(A) Were the church to lose true preaching, images (B) would not supply the loss; very different from such helps (C) are the doctrine which God has appointed; his injunction is that the Word (D) be set forth to all.

Answer: (C). Formula 2: in fronted-complement inversion the verb agrees with the TRUE subject, which follows — the doctrine (singular) → is, not are. The plural bait helps sits right before the verb, exactly as follies does in S10. (A) correct inversion (Formula 1); (B) correct past-form modal in the consequence; (D) correct mandative subjunctive after injunction is that (Formula 3).

② Comprehension — which statement agrees with the passage?

(a) Calvin denies that anyone in his day genuinely needs images as books. (b) Calvin grants that crosses of gold and silver, at least, provide useful instruction. (c) Calvin urges churches to adorn their images more beautifully so that they may serve as books of sanctity. (d) Calvin admits that many people now cannot do without such books, but blames this on their being deprived of true preaching.

Answer: (d). S14 (not a few… cannot want such books — want = lack) + S15 (defrauded of the only doctrine). (a) is the want-flip (Trap 1); (b) reads S20's sarcasm straight (Trap 3 — the avaricious learn only greed); (c) reverses S8's ironic conditional into advice (Trap 2).

③ Composition — translate using Formula 1 (inverted conditional):

만약 교회가 십자가의 설교를 잃는다면, 천 개의 십자가상도 그 자리를 채우지 못할 것이다.

Model answer: Were the church to lose the preaching of the cross, a thousand crucifixes would not fill its place. Exam-setter rationale: tests (i) Were + S + to-V inversion with were invariable, (ii) past-form modal would in the main clause, (iii) today's content — S18–S19's arithmetic of the preached cross versus the carved one.

One-line summary: The images fail even the decency test, but Calvin's real answer to "books of the unlearned" is God's own pedagogy — Word preached and sacraments administered, where Christ is placarded crucified (Gal. 3:1) — and today's grammar to keep: Were + S + to-V inversion (S2/S5), fronted-complement inversion with late subjects (S10), and archaic want = lack (S14).

Homework (10 min):

1. Structure restoration: S18 — rewrite "Of what use, then, were the erection…" as a plain conditional statement (The erection … would be of no use if …), restoring the two elided he mights in the viz.-clause.
2. Composition: using Formula 3, write one sentence beginning "His command is that…" about how the church should teach the unlearned.
3. Preview: tomorrow the chapter's second division opens — §8, the ORIGIN of idols: Calvin takes up the Book of Wisdom's theory and pushes the disease back before the flood. First words: "In regard to the origin of idols…"

Where we stopped: Book 1, Ch. 11, §7 끝. 다음은 Book 1, Ch. 11, §8 (Day 63) — the origin of idols.