‘Ah!’ said Latimer in the Martyr’s Tower, ‘if they had asked me to confess that I have been too prompt to use sarcasm, I should have been ready to do so, for sin is a heavy load. O God! unto Thee I cry; wash me in the blood of Jesus Christ.’ He looked for death, knowing well that few left that tower except for the scaffold. ‘What is to be done?’ said Warham and the bishops. Many of them would have handed the prisoner over to the magistrate to do what was customary, but the rule of the papacy was coming to an end in England, and Latimer was the king’s chaplain. One dexterous prelate suggested a means of reconciling everything. ‘We must obtain something from him, be it ever so little, and then report everywhere that he has recanted.’ Some priests went to see the prisoner: ‘Will you not yield anything?’ they asked.—‘I have been too violent,’ said Latimer, ‘and I humble myself accordingly.’—‘But will you not recognize the merit of works?’—‘No!’—‘Prayers to the saints?’—‘No!’—‘Purgatory?’—‘No!’—‘The power of the keys given to the pope?’—‘No! I tell you.’—A bright idea occurred to one of the priests. Luther taught that it was not only permitted, but praiseworthy, to have the crucifix and the images of the saints, provided that it was merely to remind us of them and not to invoke them. He had added, that the Reformation ought not to abolish fast days, but to strive to make them realities.[202] Latimer declared that he was of the same opinion. The deputation hastened to carry this news to the bishops. The more fanatical of them could not make up their minds to be satisfied with so little. What! no purgatory, no virtue in the mass, no prayers to saints, no power of the keys, no meritorious works! It was a signal defeat; but the bishops knew that the king would not suffer the condemnation of his chaplain. Convocation decided, after a long discussion that if Master Latimer would sign the two articles, he should be absolved from the sentence of excommunication. In fact, on the 10th of April the Church withdrew the condemnation it had already pronounced.[203] Footnote 181: Foxe, _Acts_, v. pp. 184, 185. Footnote 182: Chrysostom, in opere imperfecto. Footnote 183: Foxe, _Acts_, v. p. 203. Footnote 184: Foxe, _Acts_, v. p. 225. Footnote 185: Romans, vi. 14. Footnote 186: Latimer, _Works_, ii. p. 326 (Parker Soc.). Footnote 187: Foxe, _Acts_, vii. p. 454. Footnote 188: ‘Plures longe fures esse quam pastores.’—Foxe, _Acts_, vii. p. 479. Footnote 189: ‘Quibus latronibus suffocandis ne Angliæ totius canavum sufficere prædicabas.’—Ibid. p. 478. Footnote 190: Strype, i. p. 245. Footnote 191: Strype, i. p. 245. Footnote 192: ‘Crimina seu excessus graves personaliter responsurus.’—Ibid. p. 455. Footnote 193: ‘Oportet pati et sic intrare.’—Latimer, _Works_, ii. p. 351 (Parker Soc.). Footnote 194: ‘Tempestive, itempestive, privatim, publice.’—Ibid. Footnote 195: