Ruth 4:6

And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem [it] for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem [it].

Ver. 6. I cannot redeem it.] And again, I cannot redeem it. Note here: (1.) His verbosity; see the like, Ecclesiastes 10:14; See Trapp on " Ecc 1:14 " (2.) His levity and inconstancy, aliud stuns, aliud sedens, erewhile he could, but now he cannot. a And why so?

Lest I mar mine own inheritance.] Oh! take heed of that by any means: this is the worldling's greatest care; he preferreth haram domesticam arae domicae, a swine sty before a sanctuary: and feareth more iacturam regionis quam religionis, the loss of his part in Paris, than of his part in paradise, with that carnal cardinal. But what meant this man by marring his inheritance, in marrying the widow? First, she was poor; and then the old woman must be kept too, which would be a double charge. More than this: she might fill him with children, and so weaken his inheritance, while it was divided among so many. Or if he had but one child only by her, he should lack an heir to bear his own name: for the child must bear the name of his kinsman deceased: he should but beget children on another man's bed, &c. Quae vero illa fuit vel impudentia vel audacia? saith Lavater here. What strange impudency was it thus to reason, and thus to resolve! Would this man be wiser than God? Is it not he who preserveth families, and blesseth those that obey his commandments, &c. But this fellow hath many fellows in these our days, &c.

a Una eademque de re contraria loquitur. - Lav.