Among the champions of this “eclectic” theory may be mentioned: Ockam,(644) Gabriel Biel,(645) Ysambert,(646) and Ambrosius Catharinus.(647) The Saints regarded by these writers as absolutely predestined to eternal glory are: the Blessed Virgin Mary, the prophets and Apostles, St. Joseph, St. Aloysius, and a few others, as well as all infants dying in the grace of Baptism. Billuart,(648) Dominicus Soto, and certain other divines attack this theory on the ground that it makes the salvation of the great majority of the elect a matter of chance and thereby imperils the dogmatic teaching of the Church. This objection is unfounded. For though the “eclectic” theory has little or no support either in Revelation or in reason, it sufficiently safeguards the dogma of predestination by admitting that _voluntate consequente_ none but the predestined can attain to eternal beatitude. Only with regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary are we inclined to make an exception. It is probable that she was predestined to eternal glory _ante praevisa merita_, because, in the words of Lessius, the privileges she enjoyed “exceed all measure and must not be extended to any other human being.”(649) Article 4. The Reprobation Of The Damned The reprobation of the damned is sometimes called _praedestinatio ad gehennam_, though, as we have remarked, the term “predestination” should properly be restricted to the blessed. There can be no absolute and positive predestination to eternal punishment, and the pains of hell can be threatened only in view of mortal sin. Hence reprobation may be defined, in the words of Peter Lombard, as “God’s foreknowledge of the wickedness of some creatures and the preparation of their damnation.”(650) A distinction must, however, be made (at least in theory), between _positive_ and _negative_ reprobation. To teach positive reprobation would be heretical. Negative reprobation, on the other hand, is defended by all those Catholic theologians who advocate the theory of absolute predestination _ante praevisa merita_.(651) 1. HERETICAL PREDESTINARIANISM OR THE THEORY OF THE POSITIVE REPROBATION OF THE DAMNED.—Heretical Predestinarianism was taught by Lucidus, Gottschalk, Wiclif, Hus, the younger Jansenius, and especially by Calvin. The latter asserted that the salvation of the elect and the damnation of the reprobate are the effects of an unconditional divine decree.(652)