Eastern Nazarene College - Nautilus Yearbook (Quincy, MA)

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President FLOYD W. NEASE, A.M., B.D., S.T.M. Professor of ' Philosophy and ' Religion j ; ELIGION is the elder sister of Philosophy, says r Landor. How fortunate is Eastern Nazarene College, then, in possessing in the person of her President a man versed both in Philosophy and in Religion. All good moral Philosophy is but a handmaid to Religion, writes Bacon. And again, Depth in Phil- osophy bringeth men ' s minds about to religion. Our President affords us a striking illustration of these truths. A Philosopher — a Thinker — a Christian, — one may say of him. After all, what is a Philosopher but a lover of the truth ? What is the truth? asked Pilate. I am . . . the Truth! said Christ. All things work together for good to them that love God. This is the Christian ' s Philosophy, and our President is a worthy exponent of it. In labors more abundant, ... in journeyings often, ... in watch- ings, in fastings, ... by knowledge, by longsuffering, ... by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, he shows himself in all things to be the Minister of God. Page Twenty-two

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All these assertions of Jesus Christ violate fundamental psychological law, and psychologists, 86% of whom do not even believe in God, declare that He ought to die. We aestheticians have a law and by our law He ought to die, for He claimed to found a religion based on sacrifice, blood, gore, ignominy, renunciation, humiliation, shame, death, even the death of the cross. A slaughter-house religion, let it be Anathema! Away with the Christ of the Cross! We philosophers have a law and by our law He ought to die. Now philosophy is essentially the love of truth. Its objective is truth, its method is the rational processes of analysis and synthesis, its spirit is scepticism, and its unfailing criterion is reason. This Jesus Christ of the orthodox theology represents more implications which are unphilosophical than any other figure of human history. Philosophy being the clearing house of thought, all the objections to the Christ of other departments of human thought concentrate here and with absolute finality the con- cepts of a personal God, special creation, sin as reality, the necessity of an atonement, the incarnation of deity, a suffering Savior, a God-man, and personal immortality, are pro- nounced false, irrational, and abhorrent to the truly philosophical mind. Christ ' s claim to be the truth revealed from above, collides irrevocably with the philosophical claim of the derivation of truth only by rational procedure. And by this law He ought to die. We religionists have a law and by our law He ought to die. Anderson of Scotland has said, The purpose of criticism of the New Testament has been to undermine the doctrine of its central figure and to discover a human Jesus. There is not an outstanding claim relative to the life and work of Jesus Christ which has not been attacked by the liberalistic movement within the church. Modern Christianity outlaws its founder, Jesus Christ. It took a Benedict Arnold to become the arch-betrayer of his country; none but an apostle could have been a Judas Iscariot; and we cannot but believe that the greatest modern betrayers of the Christ of the New Testament are those who take shelter under the cognomen of Christianity, and yet join those who cry aloud: We have a law and by our law He ought to die. We, the common folk — the young, the middle-aged, the old — have a law. By our law, the law of pleasure, success, commercialism, vote-getting, modern progress, He ought to die. Here, class of 1926, is the challenge, the ultimatum which is hurled in your teeth as you leave the halls of your Alma Mater, Eastern Nazarene College. This world can never reach normalcy until Jesus Christ is crowned rather than crucified, until He is inaugurated instead of outlawed, and it is your task to go forth and change the law that outlaws Jesus Christ. Yes, and that must be accomplished individually in order to affect society collectively. Where and how shall you begin ? Would that I could propose an easy way, but there is none. To change the fowl, the egg must be changed; to alter the effect, the cause must be altered; to change the affections, inclinations, preferences and longings of men, their hearts, natures, characters, must be changed by the birth of the Spirit of God — the birth from above. Go forth then proclaiming, We have a law and by our law He ought to live, to be crowned, to be adored, to be worshipped as very God himself. By the eternal law of righteousness and truth, by the unchangeable demand for verity and holiness, He must be crowned for what He is, Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He ought to live, live in men ' s hearts. He must reign, reign in men ' s lives. We will not wait until we have reached the heaven beyond death; we will arise now and join the everlasting song which sings: Bring forth the royal diadem And crown Him Lord of all. This is your task, your debt to Christ, the claim of your Alma Mater upon you, and the charge of your president today. F. W. Nease. Page Twenty-one

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