[9]
3. Five principles, accordingly, have been laid1
down for the pursuance of duty: two of them have to
do with propriety and moral rectitude; two, with the
external conveniences of life—means, wealth, influence; the fifth, with the proper choice, if ever the
four first mentioned seem to be in conflict. The
division treating of moral rectitude, then, has been
completed, and this is the part with which I desire
you to be most familiar.
The principle with which we are now dealing is
that one which is called Expediency. The usage
of this word has been corrupted and perverted and
has gradually come to the point where, separating
moral rectitude from expediency, it is accepted that
a thing may be morally right without being expedient, and expedient without being morally right.
No more pernicious doctrine than this could be
introduced into human life.
1 Expediency and Moral Rectitude identical.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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