Hence we prefer to hold with Lessius,(1313) Vasquez,(1314) and De Lugo(1315) that the _condignitas_ or equality existing between merit and reward, owes its origin both to the intrinsic value of the good work itself and to the free acceptance and gratuitous promise of God. This solution duly respects the intrinsic value of merit _in actu primo_, without derogating from the sublime dignity of God, who rewards good works not because He is obliged to do so by the merits of a mere creature, but solely because He is bound by His own truthfulness and fidelity. Thus God’s justice towards His creatures is placed upon a free basis, and there is no violation of justice (_iniuria_) on His part. “From the fact that our actions have no merit except on the supposition that God so ordained,” says St. Thomas, “it does not follow that God is simply our debtor; He is His own debtor, _i.e._ He owes it to Himself to see that His commands are obeyed.”(1316) This teaching can be proved from Sacred Scripture. Cfr. James I, 12: “He shall receive the crown of life, which God hath promised to them that love him.”(1317) It is reechoed by St. Augustine: “God is made our debtor, not by receiving anything from us, but because it pleased Him to promise us something. For it is in a different sense that we say to a man: You are indebted to me because I have given you something, and: You owe this to me because you have promised it. To God we never say: Give back to me because I have given to Thee. What have we given to God, since it is from Him that we have received whatever we are and whatever good we possess? We have therefore given Him nothing.... In this manner, therefore, may we demand of God, by saying: Give me what Thou hast promised, because we have done what Thou didst command, and it is Thyself that hast done it because Thou hast aided our labors.”(1318) The Tridentine Council seems to endorse this view when it says: “Life eternal is to be proposed to those ... hoping in God ... as a reward which is, according to the promise of God Himself, to be faithfully rendered to their good works and merits.”(1319) Section 3. The Objects Of Merit After defining the existence of merit the Tridentine Council enumerates its objects as follows: “If anyone saith that the justified, by the good works which he performs, ... does not truly merit increase of grace, eternal life, and the attainment of that eternal life,—if it be so, however, that he depart in grace,—and also an increase of glory: let him be anathema.”(1320) Hence merit calls for a threefold reward: (1) an increase of sanctifying grace; (2) heavenly glory; and (3) an increase of that glory. The expression “_vere mereri_” shows that all three of these objects can be merited in the true and strict sense of the term (_de condigno_). This is, however, no more than a theologically certain conclusion.