Bonaventure, on Wis 12:2

“And therefore thou chastisest them that err, by little and little: and admonishest them, and speakest to them, concerning the things wherein they offend: that leaving their wickedness, they may believe in thee, O Lord.”

“(Verse 2). And therefore, because You are good and gentle, those who go astray, that is, who wander outside the way of truth in faith or in morals, as those of whom Isaiah fifty-three says: "All we like sheep have gone astray"; likewise Lamentations four: "The blind have wandered in the streets"; You correct in parts, that is, sending punishments by parts, not all at once, but successively, according to Exodus twenty-three: "I will not cast them out from before your face in one year," but "little by little I will drive them out"; Job thirty-five: "For now He does not bring His fury, nor does He avenge wickedness greatly," but moderately: You correct, I say, either by Yourself, or "through others, whom You fill with the Holy Spirit," according to the Gloss: John sixteen: "He will convict the world of sin." And concerning the things in which they sin, that is, concerning the sins by which they sin: You admonish them, namely by promising pardon, according to Matthew four: "Do penance," etc.; likewise Isaiah forty-five: "Turn to Me, and you shall be saved," etc.; the Gloss: "Blessed are those who hear the voice of the one admonishing"; Isaiah thirty: "Your ears shall hear the word of one admonishing from behind." And You address them, that is, by threatening punishment: Isaiah one: "If you hear Me, you shall eat the good things of the land; but if you will not hear, the sword shall devour you"; so that, having abandoned malice, namely of sin, or of unbelief, they may believe in You, Lord, namely with formed faith: in You, I say, not merely You, or to You only: Isaiah fifty-five: "Let the wicked forsake his way," etc. For the movement of penance is contrary to the movement of malice, because, just as the latter is from good to evil, so the former is from evil to good.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.