his seed in his sleep, if he go down into cold water, has the
same privilege with those that have lawfully accompanied with
their wives. And for the lepers, he suffered them not to come
into the city at all, nor to live with any others, as if they
were in effect dead persons; but if any one had obtained by
prayer to God, the recovery from that distemper, and had gained a
healthful complexion again, such a one returned thanks to God,
with several sorts of sacrifices; concerning which we will speak
hereafter.

4. Whence one cannot but smile at those who say that Moses was
himself afflicted with the leprosy when he fled out of Egypt, and
that he became the conductor of those who on that account left
that country, and led them into the land of Canaan; for had this
been true, Moses would not have made these laws to his own
dishonor, which indeed it was more likely he would have opposed,
if others had endeavored to introduce them; and this the rather,
because there are lepers in many nations, who yet are in honor,
and not only free from reproach and avoidance, but who have been
great captains of armies, and been intrusted with high offices in
the commonwealth, and have had the privilege of entering into
holy places and temples; so that nothing hindered, but if either
Moses himself, or the multitude that was with him, had been
liable to such a misfortune in the color of his skin, he might
have made laws about them for their credit and advantage, and
have laid no manner of difficulty upon them. Accordingly, it is a
plain case, that it is out of violent prejudice only that they
report these things about us. But Moses was pure from any such
distemper, and lived with countrymen who were pure of it also,
and thence made the laws which concerned others that had the