Cap. 1 subject: Scripture sense — means & praedamnatio presuppose sin
Yet Scripture and Augustine, glory of the Fathers, do not take predestination and reprobation as bare election to the end, or bare passing-by. With the decree to give the end they join the decree to prepare and give certain, designated, infallible means; with the decree to permit falling short of the end they couple another — to punish and damn forever the one who fell short. For that reason I judge it better, fitter, and in this sense truer that foresight of sin be presupposed as a condition of the subject on which such a decree of predestination and reprobation falls. In Scripture predestination usually means not bare designation to glory's end, but destination to glory through means — and not any means, but means of efficacious grace derived from Christ our Head and Mediator. So Ephesians 1:4: he chose us in him that we should be holy; 2 Timothy 1:9: he saved us according to his purpose and the grace given us in Christ before the ages. From these and many like them it is plain the Apostle means destination and direction to glory's end by infallible means of efficacious grace from Christ. Augustine, as everyone knows, takes predestination as preparation of the grace that leads infallibly to glory: Predestination is the preparation of God's benefits by which whoever are set free are set free with certainty. So Aquinas describes it as special providence ordering and directing the elect to salvation's end not by any means, but by means that produce the event infallibly. Take it thus: Predestination in Scripture is not an abstract decree about the end alone, but a compounded decree — to give eternal life through means of grace in Christ. Reprobation in Scripture's use is not bare passing-by or non-election, but pre-damnation — appointment to destruction — bound inseparably to non-election, at least as to the event. Scripture calls the reprobate vessels of wrath fitted for destruction (Romans 9:22); formerly marked out for condemnation (Jude 4). Augustine calls reprobation predestination to destruction. Under "reprobation" we must include not only the bare decree to pass by, but also the will to pre-damn. That kind of predestination and reprobation cannot be conceived or explained rightly unless sin is preconceived as a common condition in the subject.
Latin
Veruntamen, quia sacra Scriptura, & decus Patrum Augustinus, videntur per praedestinationem & reprobationem, non meram & solam electionem ad finem, nec meram praeteritionem sive non-electionem ad talem finem intelligere, sed simul conjungere cum decreto dandi finem, decretum praeparandi & dandi certa, designata, & infallibilia media ad finem; & cum decreto permittendi aliquem deficere a fine, aliud decretum copulare, puniendi & in aeternum damnandi ipsum qui defecit; ob hanc, inquam, causam puto melius & commodius, addo etiam verius hoc sensu, praevisum peccatum praesupponi ut conditionem subjecti, in quod cadit decretum talis praedestinationis & reprobationis. Ad Scripturam quod attinet, per praedestinationem solet denotare non nudam designationem ad finem gloriae, sed destinationem ad gloriam per media; nec per media quaelibet, sed per media gratiae efficacis derivatae a Christo Capite & Mediatore nostro. Huc faciunt illa loca; Eph. i.4. Vos elegit in ipso ut essemus sancti. 2 Tim. i.9. Servavit nos ex suo proposito & gratia, quae data est nobis in Christo ante tempora secularia. Ex quibus locis, aliisque multis quae accumulari possent, perspicuum est, Apostolum per praedestinationem intelligere destinationem & directionem ad finem gloriae per infallibilia media gratiae efficacis a Christo derivandae. De Augustino notius est quam ut multis egeat, illum per praedestinationem designare praeparationem gratiae infallibiliter perducentis ad gloriam. Celebris est illa definitio, Praedestinatio est praeparatio beneficiorum Dei, quibus certissime liberantur, quicunque liberantur. Unde Aquinas describit praedestinationem esse actum providentiae specialis ordinantis & dirigentis electos ad finem salutis, non per media quaelibet, sed per talia quae ipsum eventum infallibiliter producent. Sumatur itaque hoc: Praedestinationem prout usurpatur in Scripturis, designare non decretum abstractum, de solo fine, sed decretum quasi complicatum, de dando fine vitae aeternae per media gratiae in Christo. Jam ad Reprobationem quod attinet, ex usu Scripturarum designat non nudam praeteritionem aut non-electionem, sed praedamnationem sive deputationem ad interitum, quae inseparabili nexu cohaeret cum non-electione sive praeteritione, saltem quoad eventum. Hoc inde patet, quod reprobati vocentur in Scripturis vasa irae coagmentata ad interitum, Rom. ix.22. Olim descripti ad damnationem, Judae 4. Et Augustinus reprobationem appellat praedestinationem ad interitum. Sub reprobationis itaque vocabulo comprehendere debemus non nudum decretum praetereundi, aut non-eligendi aliquos, sed insuper voluntatem illos praedamnandi. His positis, dico talem praedestinationem & reprobationem non recte concipi aut explicari posse, nisi praeconcepto peccato, ut communi conditione in ipso subjecto.