The reformer came back to Geneva an altered man. Three years, four months, and twenty days had elapsed since his departure; and his sojourn in Germany had exercised a marked influence on him. Strasburg had given him what Geneva could not offer. He had in him by nature the stuff of which great men are made. But during these three years his ideas had been widened, and his character had been completed. He had entered into a wider sphere. Intellectual life at Geneva was almost exclusively Genevese; at Strasburg it was Germanic, and, at least in the case of a few, European. It was important that the reformer of the Latin race should be thoroughly acquainted with the reformers of the Germanic race, and that there should be between them some spiritual fellowship. Even if there must be independence with respect to their work, there ought at the same time to be unity. There was no town in Europe better fitted than Strasburg to furnish a thorough knowledge of the reformation of Luther and of that of Zwinglius. The doctors of this city, it is well known, held constant intercourse with Wittenberg and Zurich, and endeavored to bring about a union between them. Calvin, in this town, ran no risk of getting Germanized. His was one of those powerful natures which do not lose their native impress. Moreover, French refugees were numerous there, and amongst these he found his first sphere of labor. All the faculties of the Genevese reformer had gained something by this contact with Germany. His general information had been enlarged, his knowledge had become deeper and richer, his soul had attained more serenity, his heart was more kindly and tender, his will at once more regulated, stronger, and more steadfast. He knew that the future had battles in store for him; they would find him more gentle, more apt for endurance, but at the same time resolved to remain immovable on the rock of the Word, and to conquer by the truth. Strong by nature, he was now more completely invested with that divine _panoply_ of which St. Paul speaks.[103] He was fitted not only to feed a little flock, but to form a new society, to organize and to govern a great church. He was returning to Geneva simple and humble as before, and nevertheless a superior man.