This death clearly shows that Calvin’s work was not merely to establish order in the church and to prescribe for all a moral life. He was the instrument of still greater good. Porral had found Jesus Christ, perhaps in his latter days; he had become a new creature; he called upon God as his Father; he was in possession of that peace which passeth all understanding, and had the hope of eternal life. Calvin was not the teacher of a scholastic theology; he was the minister of a living Christianity, and none are his true disciples but those in whom the Christian life exists. No sooner had Porral passed away than Calvin was threatened with a greater affliction still. Idelette, who regarded the first syndic as her husband’s protector, seems to have been deeply affected by his death. At the beginning of July she was ill and prematurely gave birth to a child. Her life was in danger, and Calvin feared that the loss of his friend might be followed by that of the faithful companion of his life. To Viret, then at Lausanne, he wrote, ‘I am in very great anxiety.’[205] But God preserved to him this precious helper for some years more. [Sidenote: Development Of Religious Life.] In the midst of his griefs, Calvin had great consolations. The Christian work was prospering. He was not easy to satisfy; and yet, as early as November, 1541, he wrote to Farel—‘The people are quite disposed to conform to our wishes. The preaching is well attended, the hearers behave well. Many things, it is true, have to be set right, both with respect to the understanding and with respect to the affections, but the cure can only be effected by degrees.’ In March, 1542, he wrote to Myconius—‘What consoles and refreshes me is the fact that we are not laboring in vain or without fruit. Fruit, indeed, is not so abundant as we might desire; nevertheless, it is not so very rare, and there are tokens of a change for the better. A fairer future shines before us, if only Viret be left us.’[206] [Sidenote: Pierre Tissot And His Mother.]