During the whole of the period they were in Egypt, notwithstanding they were sorely oppressed, this God paid no attention to them, until a man arose that produced a great crisis in the affairs of this people, in the destiny of this family which had grown into a nation. This was really the first reformation--that is, modification--of the existing religious practices--their numerous gods, perhaps their rites, etc. The sacrifices the Jews retained, with most of the usages and priestly rituals. How many reformations or modifications had taken place before Abraham the reformer, we do not know; and how long these gods (they were very numerous) were in existence we know still less. The evolution of these idols, the existing gods, did not take place all of a sudden. It may have taken thousands of years for anything we know. It required considerable mental training to produce them. Intelligence had assumed some importance, because the people had become proficient in argument, skillful in reasoning, and observers of nature. The ordinary barbarian possesses no such capabilities. His brain is not sufficiently cultured. So long as his wants are amply supplied, there is no necessity to exert himself, the nervous system lies inactive, and this inactivity involves the perpetuation of ignorance. We may reasonably presume that these Chaldeans, these shepherds, had through many centuries of slow culture acquired the knowledge they possessed, the customs and habits they practiced, the laws they promulgated, and the rules of conduct enacted both for social and political purposes. And any innovation on the established laws was resisted and punished, pretty much as it is to-day. So when Abraham, or Terah his father before him, started the reformation, it caused a good deal of commotion and alarm. The upholders of the settled state of affairs were shocked. Anger, passion, partisanship, ran their course then, as they do now. These idolators were just as intolerant then as Christians are to-day. It was either submit or leave. Thus Abraham's and Terah's leaving the land of their fathers and settling on a tract of land where they could cultivate their new idea, their new God, was without any special act, without miracle, without supernaturalism, without mystery, perfectly human, perfectly natural. CHAPTER IX. THE CREATION OF GOD--ABRAHAM. God, such God as we know of now, like all other things and beings on this terrestrial globe was evolved very, very slowly in the minds of man--crude, ill-shapen, ill-fashioned, grotesque, barbarous, savage, semi-civilized: harmonizing with his existing mental condition and all his surroundings; a product of man's rudeness, of his uncultured nature, his inexperienced special senses, with his nervous system just emerging from an instinctive animal life to a grade or two above its former intelligence--the first step towards real humanity.