“It is easy and natural to hate evil persons because they are evil,” Augustine replies, “but it is rare and holy to love those same persons because they are human beings.” A just and merciful punishment, he argues, can be a means of unleashing their humanity. “He, therefore, who punishes the crime in order to set free the human being is bound to another person as a companion not in injustice but in humanity. There is no other place for correcting our conduct save in this life. . . . And so, out of love for the human race we are compelled to intercede on behalf of the guilty lest they end this
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