Calvin and Du Tillet soon noticed his partner, Catherine Schulz, daughter of a carpenter in the city, a clever, intelligent, active, firm woman, who had managed to obtain the ascendant over everyone, and a little too much so over her husband. The young reformer saw in her one of the types of the Christian woman, who cumbereth herself, who receiveth the prophets honourably, but who, while doing good, sometimes values herself more highly than she does others.[295] Catherine's soul was troubled for a long time; she doubted of her salvation. At last the voice of Luther reached her, and brought her peace. 'He persuades me so thoroughly of the ineffable goodness of Jesus Christ,' she exclaimed, 'that I feel as if I were dragged from the depths of hell, and transported into the kingdom of heaven. Day and night I will now tread the path of truth.'[296]
From that hour Catherine resolutely dedicated herself to the practice of good works. The pastor of St. Lawrence often had a large number of persecuted christians seated round his table, and kept them in his house for many weeks. One night he received 150 pious men from a little town of Brisgau, who, having left their homes in the middle of the night, had arrived in great distress at Strasburg. Catherine found means to lodge fourscore of them in the parsonage, and for a month had fifty or sixty of them daily at her table. Even when her house was full, she displayed the most unceasing activity abroad. Caring neither for dress nor worldly recreations, the pastor's wife visited the houses of the poor, nursed the sick, wrapped the dead in their grave-clothes, comforted the prisoners, and organised collections in favour of the refugees. She was never weary in well-doing.
In the midst of her zeal, however, she took too much credit to herself. One day, recounting her merits, she said: 'I have conscientiously assisted my beloved Matthew in his ministry and in the management of his house. I have loved the company of the learned. I have embraced the interests of the Lord's Church. Hence all the pastors and a great number of distinguished men testify their affection and respect for me.' Catherine did not know all that these 'distinguished men' thought of her; the colour would have mounted to her cheeks could she have seen a certain letter from Bucer to Blaurer, of the 16th November 1533, in which that celebrated Strasburg doctor complains of Zell's wife, 'who is so over head and ears in love with herself;' or if that letter of the 3rd of February 1534 had been brought to her, in which her husband's friend wrote of her: 'Catherine, like all of us, is too fond of herself.'[297]
At the time of Calvin's arrival in Strasburg, Bucer was much tormented by Catherine's spirit of domination; perhaps he should have understood that her defects were but the exaggeration of her good qualities. He complained of her influence over her husband: 'Matthew Zell is certainly pious,' he said, 'but ... he is ruled by his wife.'[298] Another time he said: 'He ought to preach faith more fully, more earnestly, but ... his wife drives him to care for nothing but works.'[299] The zealous Bucer, who was so often journeying to reconcile Christians and Churches, could not endure that Zell should think only of his parish, should see nothing but his dear Strasburg, and ascribed even that to Catherine. 'Oh,' said he, 'if Matthew were but more zealous for the unity of the Church!' And yet Bucer esteemed him highly, and called him 'a God-seeking man, and of upright heart.' Zell and Catherine were in those Reformation times a Christian pair, worthy to figure in history, notwithstanding their failings. Perhaps, however, Calvin recollected Catherine's character when he reckoned patience and gentleness among the foremost qualities he should look for in a wife.[300]
Calvin already knew by reputation the eminent men who were living in Strasburg. He was never tired of seeing and hearing them, both at their own houses and at Matthew Zell's. He admired in Bucer, with whom he had corresponded, and whom he afterwards called his father,[301] a noble heart, a peaceful spirit, a penetrating mind, and an untiring activity. Capito was not less attractive to him. Calvin knew that, disgusted with the intrigues of the court, he had left the elector of Mentz, and in 1532 had gone to Strasburg in search of evangelical liberty, and from that hour had watched with interest the movements of the Gospel in France. He was, therefore, impatient to see a man who, by the extent of his learning and the nobility of his character, held the first rank in the learned city where he resided; and fortunately Capito, who went to Wisbaden towards the end of August 1534, was still at Strasburg when the reformer passed through it. All these doctors joyfully saw France bringing her tribute at last to the work of Christian instruction. They were struck with Calvin's seriousness, with the greatness of his character, the depth of his thoughts, and the liveliness of his faith; and the young doctor, for his part, drank in with delight that perfume of learning and piety, which exhaled from the conversation and life of these men of God.
=DEFICIENCIES IN THE THEOLOGIANS.=
One thing, however, checked him: in his opinion the Strasburg reformers observed too strict a middle path, and sometimes sacrificed truth to prudence. Calvin was troubled at this; by not breaking completely with Rome, were they not preparing the way to return to it? He was all the more alarmed, as the young canon of Angoulême had a great inclination for this middle way. Calvin, who would have desired to put Du Tillet in connection with decided reformers, saw the three doctors of Strasburg, and especially Bucer, holding out their hands to Melanchthon to reunite popery and the Reformation. Could he have led him into a snare?... 'I find learning and piety in Bucer and Capito,' he said one day, 'but they force me to desire in them firmness and constancy. We must be liberal, no doubt, but not so as to spend the wealth of another. And what precautions ought we not to take, when it is a question of spending God's truth?... He did not give it us that we should contract it in any way.'[302] True, these words are found in a document of later date; but already the wavering Du Tillet was approaching the gulf into which he was to fall.
Calvin made up for his disappointments by devoting himself lovingly to the French refugees at Strasburg. He consoled them, succoured them, and gave them very trusty counsel.[303] To strengthen his exiled fellow-countrymen was the work of his whole life. 'We must be strangers in this world,' he said, 'even if we do not quit the nest. But blessed are those who, rather than fall away from the faith, freely forsake their homes, and leave their earthly comforts to dwell with Christ.[304]
Calvin did not remain long at Strasburg. Did he fear the influence of that city upon his friend? or did he find too many occupations and disturbances which prevented his giving all his time to the work to which he wished to dedicate himself? I think so, but there was something else. He understood that instead of receiving knowledge from the hand of others, he must personally work the mine of Scripture and dig up the precious gems that it contained. He wished, like the bee, to extract a store of the purest honey from the abundance of the flowers of the divine Word. He had had enough of travelling, of disagreements, of struggles, and of persecution ... his soul longed for solitude and quiet study. 'O God,' said he, 'hide me in some obscure corner, where I may at last enjoy the repose so long denied me.'[305] Calvin departed for Basle.
=ERASMUS.=