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254 THE HISTORY OF HERESIES,
God, we get through his mercy, and through the merits of Jesus
Christ : but, through his goodness, he has so disposed that, with
the good works we perform, by the power of his Grace, we can
deserve eternal life, on account of the gratuitous promise made
by him to those who do what is right.
the Council :
"
Hear again the words of
Justificatis, sive acceptam gratiam conservaverint
sive amissam recuperaverint, proponenda est vita aeterna, et tan-
quam gratia nliis Dei per Christum Jesum promissa et tanquam
merces ex ipsius Dei promissione ipsorum meritis reddenda"
(Sess. vi, cap. 16). Therefore, say the heretics, he who is saved
can glorify himself that he is saved through his own works.
No ; for the Council says :
"
Licet bonis operibus merces tri-
buatur absit tamen, ut Christianus in se ipso vel confidat,
vel glorietur, et non in Domino : cujus tanta est erga homines
bonitas, ut eorum velit esse merita, qua3 sunt ipsius dona."
16. Our adversaries may thus see how unjustly the Calvinists
charge us with insulting the mercy of God and the merits of
Jesus Christ by attributing to our own merits the acquisition of
eternal salvation. We assert that we can do nothing good, unless
in virtue of the Grace communicated to us by God, through the
merits of Jesus Christ, and hence all our merits are the gift of
God, and if he gives us glory as a reward of our merits, he does
not do so because he is obliged to give it, but because (to en
courage us in his service, and make us more certain of eternal
salvation if we are faithful), it is his wish merely through his
own goodness gratuitously to bind himself by a promise to give
eternal life to those who serve them. That being the case, what
have we to glorify ourselves in, since all that is given to us wo
receive through the mercy of God, and by the merits of Jesus
Christ communicated to us ?
17. The Scriptures most clearly prove that eternal glory in
the next life is given as a reward for good works, and this glory
is called a reward, a debt, a crown of justice, and a payment :
"
Every man shall receive his own reward according
to his own
labour" (I. Cor. iii, 8) ; Now to him that worketh the reward is
not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt" (Rom.
iv, 4).
Mark the words
"
according
to debt."
" As
to the rest
there is laid up for me a crown of justice" (II. Tim. iv, 8) ;
" And
having agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent