In a short time after the Jews had left the house of bondage, they began to upbraid Moses that they had changed for the worse; and in the course of their journeying, they quarrelled with him, and the Lord had continually to interfere, and to feed them by miracles. At Mount Sinai, Moses halted; and, according to the command of the Lord, the law was given to the nation, as recorded in Exodus, chapter xx. And this boasted law is said to have been given by the Lord, in the hearing of all the Children of Israel. The first commandment contains a spirit of intolerance, which, whether he gave it or not, has never failed to generate in Jews and Christians a spirit of religious persecution which has deluged the earth with blood. The ten commandments, given by Moses to the Children of Israel, contain, in general, good moral precepts, with the exception of the first. The first begins by the Lord’s speaking in a language which all the people could understand:—“_I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me._” This command, which by both Jews and Christians is considered so just and reasonable, contains in it the germ of intolerance. Had this command been given immediately after the recorded fall of Adam, its influence would have had a very different bearing on the peace and happiness of society, than it had at the time, and has had ever since it was given. It would have been both just and right in the Lord of all to demand of his creatures to worship him, and him alone, in the way and manner he saw fit; since in that case, no evil consequences could have followed from a command so just and proper, as for the creature to obey his Creator. But at the time the Lord gave the first commandment, the whole world were in the practice of worshipping the gods of their forefathers: the origin of which worship was then lost, and the worshippers were no doubt as sincere in their devotion as the most pious Jew or Christian of the present day. By the publication, then, of the first commandment, at a time when every nation had its particular god, and the worshippers lived in peace, the spirit of intolerance and religious persecution being unknown, the great I am declared a religious war against all the gods, and their worshippers on the face of the earth. But according to Bible history, Jehovah permitted his creatures to wander on earth, and appeared regardless as to what gods were worshipped; and then, after some thousand years, he all at once began to rage against all the religious systems then known.