A tale out of season is as musick in mourning: but stripes and correction of wisdom are never out of time.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 22:6 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 22
Clement Of Alexandria
AD 215
It is not out of hatred that the Lord chides human beings, for he suffered for us when he could have destroyed us because of our faults. For he is a good Teacher who has the consummate ability to censure with words of rebuke. His words of reproach are like a whip that scourges the sluggish mind of people. And then, once he scourges them, he can move on to exhorting them. For those who are not motivated by praise are spurred on by censure. And those whom censure cannot rouse to salvation, as if they were dead, are by denunciation roused to the truth. "For the whip and correction are suited in every circumstance to wisdom."
