De la Maisonneuve, having returned to Lyons for the fairs of Easter and of August, met a considerable number of merchants at the Coupe d’Or, and immediately undertook to enlighten them, feeling that language was given for such purposes; but, as he feared also that his scattered remarks, if not followed up, would be insufficient to correct the tardiness of certain men, he determined to make use of various stimulants. Accordingly, he spared neither toil nor weariness. Simon de Montverban, who was there again, was struck with his zeal, and complained of it. ‘Whenever the merchants take their meals,’ he said, ‘whenever he meets them in the common hall, when they come in or go out, everywhere and always, Baudichon gets talking and disputing about the Gospel.’ No longer confining himself to questions of fasting or images, he went straight to what was essential: he put forward Scripture as the fountain of truth, and declared that every sinner, even the greatest, was saved through uniting himself by faith to Jesus Christ. People censured him in vain. In vain did two merchants, one named Arcon and the other Hugues, repeat to every body and to Baudichon himself that, if he was in their country, he would be burnt; the latter, who did not doubt them, continued his arguments. Lyons was a free city during the fair, and he took advantage of it to make the pure Gospel known. Simon de Montverban complained to the Genevan huguenot’s brother-in-law, an ardent papist, who made answer: ‘I wish that Baudichon had died ten years ago; he is the cause of all the troubles at Geneva.’[514] De la Maisonneuve was again at Lyons at the feasts of All Saints (November, 1533) and Epiphany (1534). One evening, when a numerous company was supping at the inn, the conversation turned on the religious circumstances of the times. After listening a while, he exclaimed: ‘It is nonsense to pray to the saints, to hear mass, and confess to the priests!’ and proceeded to quote _the Gospels and the Apostles_ to prove what he said. ‘In our country,’ again asserted some who heard him, ‘at Avignon, at Clermont you would be sent to the stake!’ It was the burden of the old song, and they were only surprised that he was not burnt at Lyons. De la Maisonneuve, knowing well that it was out of their Roman piety that they wished to burn him, was content to smile. But his calmness excited the wrath of his fellow-guests. The merchants of Auvergne rose from the table in a fit of anger, and, addressing the hostess, desired she would not receive Maisonneuve in future. ‘If we find him here when we come again,’ they said, ‘we shall go and lodge elsewhere.’ The landlady promised the Auvergnats not to receive him in future.[515]