Theodoret of Cyrus: Root Out Hidden Problems First

Censure, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instructions. The wise surgeons do this, too: they operate on the hidden problem first, and use the harsher remedies, and only then apply the milder ones. So censure is like the surgery, rebuke like the more concentrated remedies, and exhortation like the milder ones.

- Theodoret of Cyrus (around A.D. 393 to around A.D. 457), Commentary on 2 Timothy, Chapter 4, in Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Letters of St. Paul, Volume 2, p. 246 (2001), Robert C. Hill translator.