A year later (in 1532), also at fair time, De la Maisonneuve, Bournet, a broker to whom he had confided an article of jewellery for sale, Humbert des Oches, and other tradesmen were supping at the table-d’hôte of the Coupe d’Or. It was one of those days on which the Church forbids the eating of meat. Bournet had brought some fish, of which they all partook, and Baudichon among them. This surprised one of the guests, who asked him whether they eat meat at Geneva on fast days. ‘Certainly they do,’ he answered, ‘and if I were in a place where it could be got, I should make no difficulty about it, for God does not forbid it.’—‘The pope and the Church forbid it,’ returned Bournet, sharply. Baudichon declared that he did not acknowledge the pope’s power to forbid what God permits. ‘God said to St. Peter,’ rejoined Bournet, ‘“_Whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven_” (Matthew xvi. 19). The pope is now in the place of St. Peter; therefore’....—‘The pope and the priests,’ retorted Maisonneuve, ‘are so far from being like St. Peter, that there are many among them who lead evil lives, and require to be set in order and reformed. The Word of God alone brings grace to the sinner.’ He then began to repeat ‘some passages from the Gospels _in the French language_,’ selecting those which announce Jesus Christ and the complete pardon he gives. Every Christian who proclaims the Gospel might, he declared, be God’s instrument to liberate souls from sin and condemnation; and then, growing bolder, he exclaimed: ‘I am _Petrus_; you (turning to Bournet) are _Petrus_. Every man is Peter, provided he is firm in the faith of Jesus Christ.’ All present were much struck with his observations, and the strange man became still blacker in their eyes.[511]