Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses:
Ver. 2. Speak unto the children of Israel.] They had been spoken to before by Moses to do thus but made no haste to do it: such is men's slackness in procuring the good of others.
Appoint out for you cities of refuge.] Susceptionis aut recollectionis, for the preservation of man's precious life, if causelessly sought after: not such sanctuaries of roguery as Romulus opened about the beginning of his reign to bring more company about him: nor as the Romanists now-a-days do for wilfnl murderers and other wicked persons, who should be pulled from the altar to the halter, as Joab was. See Exodus 21:14. If a malefactor be going to execution, and a cardinal meeting him put his red hat upon his head, he is thereby free immediately, Proh nefas! The scripture saith, "A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him." Pro 28:17 But the Pope professeth to have power to dispense against the New Testament and the Old: which made Sir Walter Raleigh say, that if he were to choose a religion for licentious liberty, he would become a Papist.