“…nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.”
This is very Thomistic (not a bad thing). Another way of putting it might be, “We are free because God is so transcendent.” God is at work in us, both to will and to do. Accordingly, there is nothing wrong with singing, “I have decided to follow Jesus.” Second causes are not taken away, but rather established. Aquinas reconciles freedom with predestination by saying that God’s sovereignty is such that he not only gets what he wants but he also gets it in the way that he wants. Not only is everything done that God wills to be done, but it is also done in the way he wants it to be done. It happens without freedom in the case of natural things like falling rain and freely in the case of human choices. Our choices are real; they are not illusory.
I do not believe the Scriptures teach a “double-predestination”, for “God is not willing that any should perish”. My choice matters, and yet faith is a gift. The way the two work together is, in a way, as mysterious as the Incarnation itself.
