Miscellanies 1.27.173

That example brings to self-control it says at once: “A cunning man, seeing a wicked man punished, is himself strongly instructed,” since “the fear of the Lord is the source of wisdom.” The greatest and most perfect good is when one can bring someone from doing evil to virtue and well-being, which the law accomplishes. So even when someone falls into an incurable evil, seized by injustice and greed, the one who is put to death would be benefited; for the law is a benefactor, able to make some just from unjust, if only they are willing to listen to it, and to release others from present evils. For it promises immortality to those who choose to live temperately and justly. To know the law belongs to a good mind. And again: “Evil men do not understand the law, but those who seek the Lord will understand in every good thing.” The providence that governs must be both sovereign and good. For the power of both arranges salvation, the one bringing to self-control by punishment as sovereign, the other showing kindness by good deeds as benefactor. It is possible not to be a son of disobedience, but to pass from darkness into life, and, lending one's ear to wisdom, to be lawful: at first a servant of God, then to become a faithful attendant, fearing the Lord God; and if one rises further, to be enrolled among the sons; and when love covers a multitude of sins, growing in love, to await the completion of blessed hope, as one ranked in the chosen adoption called the friendship of God, singing already the prayer and saying, “Let the Lord be my God.”