The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-03-18
RELIGION FOUNDED ON NATURE OF MAN All Truth, However Revealed, is
 Gods Word ANALYSIS OF THE BIBLE The Futility of the Position of Our Havino a Correct Translation
 of the Bible Is Evi-
 dent.
ANALYSIS OF THE BIBLE

The Rev. D. c. Limbaugh preached at the Unitarian church yesterday morn ing at the Il o'clock services on "Revela- tion-Natural and Progressive" taking his text from the words of the Psalmist as follows:
 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" and the words of Jesus, Why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what is right
 The Rev. MT. Limbaugh spoke in part as follows:
 A rational view of the Bible is far more precious than an impression that it is Gods infallible word to man. The Bible is not the basis of religion, but re- ligion is founded upon the nature of man, just as society with all its institutions, social, domestic, governmental scientific, educational, is based upon the constitu- tion of man. These institutions grow out of mans nature and are established for the growth, development and welfare of man. So the Bible does not produce re- ligion and religious institutions, but mans religious nature produces Bibles, religions and religious institutions.
 TIlStoTIS lltefatuTe.
 '',fhe Bible is Jewish religious literature and gives history of the development of religion among the Israelites. These peo- pie possessed the greatest religious genius Of any people who have lived, and as such they have produced the greatest religious literature, but they have simply made contribution in a s3turalistic way and not in a supernatural way to the de- Velopment of the great and universal stream of religion. The Bible Is valuable only to the extent and amount of its con- trtbution as a great tributary to the development of the main current of re- ligion.
 "Mislnformed and prejudlced minds have represented the higher critics as enemies of the Bible" continued MT. Limbaugh. They are not. They are true friends of the Bible. The Bible has had an origin, history; and in the light of it's origin, history, chronology, and comparison with the Bibles of other peo- pies and other forms of religion, it has a merit. All the work of the historic and comparative critics has been made in the direction of finding out the truth eiDOuI lHe blDle. 10 Illlu lne Ifuln con cerning 1t IS not to take the Bible away from the people; it is to truly give the Bible to them. Such men, of such birth, character, education and consecrated Christian lives as Davidson Ewald, Dean- Stanley, Canon, Farror, Henson, Tiele F. W. Robertson, Driver and others of equal note, are not enemies of the Bible. They have been and are it's best friends. There are no enemines of the Bible ex- cept those who persist in misunderstood ing and misrepresenting the truth about it.
 All Truth Is Gods Word.
 'When the Psalmist said. Thy word is lamp unto my feet and light unto my path, he could not have meant the Bible. There was no New Testament at all, and only parts of the Old Testament had an existence, and they were not then bound up as we have them. They existed only in parchment and each was filed in it's place as a separate roll. He could nave meant only, that all truth of what ever nature and however revealed, is Gods word.
 This is q question, then, not of taking hope away from man, but of giving hope to men. The sphere of revelation is not lessened, but broadened. People who claim that they have no other guide in morals and religion do not take the Bible s their guide in life. An example of this is in not suffering a witch to live. the re- peated enjoining of taking interest on loans, Jesus command to call no man father, Jesus teaching on the divorce question, resistance of evil, suing at the law, and the manner of healing disease as commanded in the New Testament. Our real guides as to conduct are our rational human experiences in the real activities of life. When the Bible is in accord with these we accept and adopt it: where 1t is not, we reject it.
 'An analysis of the Bible shows that 1t is not one book, but one volume made up of sixty-two books: that is not book of unity of thought, morals or re- ligion, but that it contains unreliable his tory, that it is unscentifc, that it is pro gressive from lower ideas to higher ones concerning God, man, morals and re- lgion, and that it is itself an illustra- tion of the truth of evolution.
 There are over 15O0 various, antagonis- tis, irreconcilable manuscripts of the New Testament, creating over 15'W0 various and contradictory readings. We have not a single original copy; we have only copies of copies the oldest of which takes us back no further than 25 A. D. The New Testament was written in initial or larger capital letters and the Old Testa- ment was written without vowels. The futility of the position of our having correct translation is evident
 '''rhe Bible as a history of the develop nent of the religion among the Jews is a treasure. but when it is looked upon as a fetish it becomes injurious to the divine life"