John Cassian, on Jer 1:10

“Lo, I have set thee this day over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root up, and pull down, and to waste, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant.”

“But you should know that we must work twice as hard to drive out vice as we do to acquire virtue. And this is not simply our own opinion, but we were instructed by the opinion of the One who alone knows the strength and the method of his work: "See," he says, "I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." He points out that four things are required for getting rid of poisonous elements: to root up, to pull down, to waste and to destroy. But in order to do good and acquire righteousness, all that is required is to build and to plant. It is perfectly evident that it is a harder thing to tear up and eradicate the ingrained passions of body and soul than to introduce and plant spiritual virtues.”

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