sed Virgin there is implied her exemption
from original sin, etc., etc.

So, too, in the beginning many truths might have been proposed somewhat
_obscurely_ or _less clearly_; they might have been _less urgently
insisted upon_, because there was no heresy, no contrary teaching to
render a more explicit declaration necessary. Now, a doctrine which is
_implicitly, less clearly, not so earnestly_ proposed, may be overlooked,
misunderstood, called in question; consequently, it may happen that some
articles are now universally believed in the Church, in regard to which
doubts and controversies existed in former ages, even within the bosom of
the Church. "Those who err in belief do but serve to bring out more
clearly the soundness of those who believe rightly. For there are many
things which _lay hidden in the Scriptures_, and when heretics were cut
off they vexed the Church of God with disputes; then the hidden things
were _brought to light_, and the will of God was made known." (St.
Augustine on the 54th Psalm, No. 22.)

This kind of _progress in faith_ we can and do admit; but the truth is not
changed thereby. As Albertus Magnus says: "It would be more correct to
style this the progress of the believer in the faith than of the faith in
the believer."

To show that this kind of progress is to be admitted only two things are
to be proved: 1: That some divinely revealed truths should be contained in
the Apostolic teaching _implicitly, less clearly explained, less urgently
pressed_. And this can be denied only by those who hold that the Bible is
the only rule of Faith, that it is clear in every part, and could be
readily understood by all from the beginning. This point I shall consider
farther on in this work. 2. That the Church can, in process of time, as
occasions arise, _declare, explain, urge_. This is proved not only from
the Scriptures and the Fathers, but even from the conduct of Protestants
themselves, who often boast of the care and assiduity with which they
"search the Scriptures," and study out their meaning, even now that so
many Commentaries on the sacred Text have been published. And why? To
obtain more light; to understand better what is revealed. It would appear
from this that the only question which could arise on this point is, not
about the possibility of arriving by degrees at a clearer understanding of
the true sense of revelation, as circumstances may call for successive
developments, but about the auth