on
their own authority for the maintenance of views of their own."

"And will you say that these gentlemen have not views of their own?"
asked Mr. Jennings.

Charles assented.

"What is your view of the Thirty-nine Articles?" said the Vice-Principal
abruptly.

"_My_ view!" thought Charles; "what can he mean? my _view_ of the
Articles! like my opinion of things in general. Does he mean my 'view'
whether they are English or Latin, long or short, good or bad, expedient
or not, Catholic or not, Calvinistic or Erastian?"

Meanwhile Jennings kept steadily regarding him, and Charles got more and
more confused. "I think," he said, making a desperate snatch at
authoritative words, "I think that the Articles 'contain a godly and
wholesome doctrine, and necessary for these times.'"

"_That_ is the Second Book of Homilies, Mr. Reding, not the Articles.
Besides, I want your own opinion on the subject." He proceeded, after a
pause: "What is justification?"

"Justification," ... said Charles, repeating the word, and thinking;
then, in the words of the Article, he went on: "We are accounted
righteous before God, but only for the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by faith, and not by our own works and deservings."

"Right," said Jennings; "but you have not answered my question. What
_is_ justification?"

This was very hard, for it was one of Charles's puzzles what
justification was in itself, for the Articles do not define it any more
than faith. He answered to this effect, that the Articles did not define
it. The Vice-Principal looked dissatisfied.

"Can General Councils err?"

"Yes," answered Charles. This was right.

"What do Romanists say about them?"

"They think they err, too." This was all wrong.

"No," said Jennings, "they think them infallible."

Charles was silent; Jennings tried to force his decision upon him.

At length Charles said that "Only some General Councils were admitted as
infallible by the Romanists, and he believed that Bellarmine gave a list
of General Councils which had erred."

Another pause, and a gathering cloud on Jennings' brow.

He returned to his former subject. "In what sense do you understand the
Articles, Mr. Reding?" he asked. That was more than Charles could tell;
he wished very much to know the right sense of them; so he beat about
for the _received_ answer.

"In the sense of Scripture," he said. This was true, but nugatory.

"Rather," said Jennings, "you understand Scriptur