Abraham was an agitator, a reformer, if you will. Josephus thus speaks of him (Chap. VII): "He was a person of great sagacity, both for understanding all things and persuading his hearers, and not mistaken in his opinions; for which reason he began to have higher notions of virtue than others had, and he determined to renew and to change the opinions all men happened then to have concerning God; for he was the first that ventured to publish this notion: That there was but one God, the creator of the universe; and that as to other (gods) if they contributed anything to the happiness of men, each of them afforded it only according to his appointment, and not of their own power. His opinion was derived from the irregular phenomena that were visible both at land and sea, as well as those that happened to the sun and moon and all the heavenly bodies. 'If,' said he, 'these bodies had power of their own, they would certainly take care of their own regular motions; but since they do not preserve such regularity, they make it plain, that so far as they coöperate to our advantage, they do it not of their own abilities; but as they are subservient to him that commands them, to whom alone we ought justly to offer our honor and thanksgiving.' For which doctrines when the Chaldeans, and the people of Mesopotamia, raised a tumult against him, he thought fit to leave that country." In other words, he was driven from his country for sedition and heresy, when he was seventy-five years old. He settled down in a land called Canaan, where he built an altar, and performed a sacrifice to God. In this manner Abraham began to cultivate a reformation and religion among his own people, who were quite numerous. The Egyptians at this period were in a flourishing condition. Canaan was invaded by famine. So Abraham went down to Egypt, "both to partake of the plenty they enjoyed, and to become an auditor for their priests, and to know what they said concerning the gods; designing either to follow them, if they had better notions than he, or convert them to a better way, if his own notions proved the truer."