The Lutheranism of that citizen was of old date. He was a great friend of John Lullin, who possessed, it will be remembered, the hostelry of the Bear, at that time much frequented by German traders, who were, for the most part, Lutherans. Some Nuremburg merchants of the name of Toquer arrived there during the Lent of 1526.[388] De la Maisonneuve, who had much business with Germany, went often to see them, ‘eating and drinking with them.’ Their conversation was very animated, and usually turned upon religion. As early as 1523 the traders of Nuremburg had heard the Gospel from the mouth of Osiander, and they endeavored to propagate it wherever they went. Their words struck De la Maisonneuve all the more ‘because at that time there was no mention of Lutheranism in Geneva, or next to none, at least.’[389] There was at that time in Lullin’s service a young man of Lyons, named Jean Demai, about twenty-five years of age, and very attached to the Roman Church. While waiting at table, he listened attentively to the conversation between Baudichon and the Germans, and kept it in his memory. The daring Genevese did not restrain himself, and said, sometimes at dinner, sometimes at supper,[390] ‘God did not ordain Lent. It is mere folly to confess to the priests, for they cannot absolve you. It is an abuse to go to mass. All the religious orders, mendicants, and others, are nonsense.’ ‘What, then, will you do with the monks?’ asked one of the party. ‘Set them all to till the earth,’ he replied. ‘If you say such things,’ observed a catholic, ‘the Church will refuse you burial.’ ‘When I die,’ he answered, ‘I will have no preaching at my funeral, and no bells tolled; I will be buried wherever I please.’[391] Baudichon’s remarks were not kept within the walls of the hostelry of the Bear. Before long they were repeated throughout the city and neighborhood. ‘That man,’ said many, ‘is one of the principal Lutherans and in the front rank of those who set them going.’[392] That is what he was about to do. [Sidenote: Baudichon Recovers The Prisoners.]