The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-01-21
SHOULD RECONCILE YOURSELF WITH GOD Religions Change But Religion
 is Ever Present REV. LIMBAUGH BREACHES Unitarian Minister Compares the Trend of Modern Thought to the
 Opinions Held by the
 Apostles.
REV. LIMBAUGH BREACHES

Yesterday at Il o'clock, the Rev H. C. Limbaugh the Unitarian minister preached an eloquent and logical dis course before the Unitarian congregation at Webb school building near Five Points. South Highlands, his subject being "Is Religion Dying" He took for his text words attributed to Paul, Be ye recon ciled to God" the injunction of Herbert Spencer Adjust yourself to your en- vironments, and the further words of Paul, When I was a child, I spake as a child. I felt as a child. I thought as a child; now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things"
 Mir Limbaugh spoke of forms of re- ligion having been born, of their having grown old, of their decaying and of their death, but he went on to say: Religions may die, but 1t is very different when you drop the final "s' Religions are born, they do grow old and die, but religion never dies"
 Defines the Abstract.
 He then defined in the abstract and H. frustrated in the concrete the threefold elements of religion, in it's thought, emo- tional and cult sides, maintaining that these three clements are found to exist in every form of religion from the lowest fetish worship to and including the high est worship of God in spirit and truth.
 The speaker said NO matter how low, iudicrous and bruitish the form of the religion, man has always felt that he was out of ideal condition, and his efforts in his worship have been made as an at tempt to properly relate himself to God as he has conceived him. He has been feeling after God, if hapIy he may find Him, though He is not far from every one of us. He has been trying to recon cile himself to God"
 Trend of Modern Thought.
 Then the preacher wens on to say if the enemies of religion are hoping that re- ligion may die, or if the friends of the old forms of religion are uneasy, they both have but to reflect that the last word of science uttered by the great Her. bert Spencer, Adjust yourself to your environments, Is the same in essence to Pauls injunction, "Be ye reconciled to God" To the atheist, who believes God is our environment the injunction of the apostle and of the great scientist are one and the same. If a man is an agnostic and says he knows nothing of the power called God, or if he is a materialist, he does not escape the necessity of religion. for this power is here whatever we may call it. we are its children, we are de- pendent upon it, and all our welfare and happiness are dependent upon our prop erly relating ourselves to 1t; of becoming
 
 to it.
 But" said the preacher. something has been happening and what has been happening is the most natural and the most encouraging thing in the world. Man has been growing: he has been getting civilized; he is coming into possession of facts which necessarily set aside much of the old thought concerning the uni- verse concerning God, concerning man. his origin his nature, his relation to God, to the universe, and to his fellowman. Necessarily this must not only change mans intellectual conception of religion, but the feelings and the forms accom- panying the thought must also be changed. There is no reason to justify the opposition of many concerning this changed attitude. Men have not gone to work to discover facts by means of which religion may be destroyed. Men are not responsible for the existence of facts. God only can be responsible for their existence. Calico did not invent Jupiter moons. He pointed his tele- scope in the direction of Jupiter, found the moons and announced the discovery. But facts are facts, and they often re- quire us to readjust ourselves to new dis coveries in religion as well as In other departments of life The sacred aspira- tions and faiths and hopes of the human soul remain the same whatever be the forms of religion.
 Not Going to be Destroyed.
 "There is no need to fear that religion Is going to be destroyed or that it is going to die. Under the present day scientific method in the pursuit of all knowledge, and hence in the rational and practical application of all facts to life. and life's problems, we see more clearly than ever under the necessity of putting away childish thought. speech and feel ing and of becoming scientifically, ration ally reconciled to God and adjusted to our environment. Religion is more than theology; it is more than creed; 1t is more than dogma it is more than mere feeling; it is more than mere ritualism. and cere- monialism. Religion is life, it Is love. sympathy human helpfulness Religion is no longer confined to an organization. It has become both individualistic and socialistic It has overrun the churches. If is now carried out into life, into tho individual life, and means purity, right living.
 Tt .:ed further into life and be- comes .:a..4listic-the consideration of the fact that society is. a unit, though made up of many members. It makes us re- gard man as our brother. realizing that his interest is our interest, and that to do unto him as we would have him do unto us fs the highest law of religion"