tion has its contingency.
Moreover all that has been said about the divine knowledge and will
(Q. 14, A. 13; Q. 19, A. 4) must also be taken into consideration;
since they do not destroy contingency in things, although they
themselves are most certain and infallible.

Reply Obj. 1: The crown may be said to belong to a person in two
ways; first, by God's predestination, and thus no one loses his
crown: secondly, by the merit of grace; for what we merit, in a
certain way is ours; and thus anyone may lose his crown by mortal
sin. Another person receives that crown thus lost, inasmuch as he
takes the former's place. For God does not permit some to fall,
without raising others; according to Job 34:24: "He shall break in
pieces many and innumerable, and make others to stand in their
stead." Thus men are substituted in the place of the fallen angels;
and the Gentiles in that of the Jews. He who is substituted for
another in the state of grace, also receives the crown of the fallen
in that in eternal life he will rejoice at the good the other has
done, in which life he will rejoice at all good whether done by
himself or by others.

Reply Obj. 2: Although it is possible for one who is predestinated
considered in himself to die in mortal sin; yet it is not possible,
supposed, as in fact it is supposed. that he is predestinated. Whence
it does not follow that predestination can fall short of its effect.

Reply Obj. 3: Since predestination includes the divine will as stated
above (A. 4): and the fact that God wills any created thing is
necessary on the supposition that He so wills, on account of the
immutability of the divine will, but is not necessary absolutely; so
the same must be said of predestination. Wherefore one ought not to
say that God is able not to predestinate one whom He has
predestinated, taking it in a composite sense, thought, absolutely
speaking, God can predestinate or not. But in this way the certainty
of predestination is not destroyed.
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SEVENTH ARTICLE [I, Q. 23, Art. 7]

Whether the Number of the Predestined Is Certain?

Objection 1: It seems that the number of the predestined is not
certain. For a number to which an addition can be made is not certain.
But there can be an addition to the number of the predestined as it
seems; for it is written (Deut. 1:11): "The Lord God adds to this number
many thousands," and a gloss adds, "fixed by God, who knows those who
belong to Him."