ce the souls of the righteous
in their everlasting seat." Therefore it would seem that they merited
the Incarnation.

Obj. 3: Further, of the Blessed Virgin it is sung that "she merited
to bear the Lord of all" [*Little Office of B. V. M., Dominican Rite,
Ant. at Benedictus], and this took place through the Incarnation.
Therefore the Incarnation falls under merit.

_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Praed. Sanct. xv): "Whoever can
find merits preceding the singular generation of our Head, may also
find merits preceding the repeated regeneration of us His members."
But no merits preceded our regeneration, according to Titus 3:5: "Not
by the works of justice which we have done, but according to His
mercy He saved us, by the laver of regeneration." Therefore no merits
preceded the generation of Christ.

_I answer that,_ With regard to Christ Himself, it is clear from the
above (A. 10) that no merits of His could have preceded the union.
For we do not hold that He was first of all a mere man, and that
afterwards by the merits of a good life it was granted Him to become
the Son of God, as Photinus held; but we hold that from the beginning
of His conception this man was truly the Son of God, seeing that He
had no other hypostasis but that of the Son of God, according to Luke
1:35: "The Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God." And hence every operation of this man followed the union.
Therefore no operation of His could have been meritorious of the
union.

Neither could the needs of any other man whatsoever have merited this
union condignly: first, because the meritorious works of man are
properly ordained to beatitude, which is the reward of virtue, and
consists in the full enjoyment of God. Whereas the union of the
Incarnation, inasmuch as it is in the personal being, transcends the
union of the beatified mind with God, which is by the act of the soul
in fruition; and therefore it cannot fall under merit. Secondly,
because grace cannot fall under merit, for the principle of merit
does not fall under merit; and therefore neither does grace, for it
is the principle of merit. Hence, still less does the Incarnation
fall under merit, since it is the principle of grace, according to
John 1:17: "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Thirdly, because
the Incarnation is for the reformation of the entire human nature,
and therefore it does not fall under the merit of any individual man,
since the good