The Evening standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1910-1913, 1910-11-14
SUNDAY SERMON
BY REV. CARVER

Speaking upon the theme, THE
Five Treacherous Guides of Life" the
subject being The Deceitful Lure Of
EXpediency," Rev. Carver said last
evening in part:
Professor Hoxley has said, Your
life Is like a problem In the rule of
three, in which your duty. multiplied
ioto your capacity and divided by
your circumstances, gives the fourth
term, which Is your DESERTS" Not a
bad rule. is it? Only one term needs
TO be very earnestly deliberated. and
that is your duty. What is your duty?
Is there any definite guide whereby
We may know which is che right path
Of life? Many say that we must de-
tcrmine what is eXpedient.
Let us note two of the famous exam
Bles OF eXpediency. When the treaty
which terminated the war OF the revo-
Luton was signed by Benjamin Frank
lin. John Adams and John Jay, a ma
tlonal pledge OF honor was broken, for
Franklin had, as our representative,
promised France that If they would
aid us no treaty would be made with
Cul the consent of France, as the
French desired to secure lands north
ot our colonies. Franklin and his as
Gociates did not deem It eXpedient TO
give France so strong a foothold on
our north border and so broke the
pledge, At the battle OF Varna, Car
dual Julian advised that the Chris
tan forces break the truce with the
turks without warning in order to
gam advantage over them: they did
so, and the Moslems, resentlng such
base treachery, raised a banner in.
scribed, ''Oh. Jesus, avenge the in.
suit to thy name.' Julian deemed II
eNDedient not to keep the solemnly
made truce. He did not see the need
Of keeping honor with an intidel, who
was willing to rob and plunder. And
yet history condemns both Franklin
and Julian for breaking their word.
while posterity praises them for act
Ing according to eXpedieucy.
The word eXpedient here is from a
great word meaning to grow to-
6cther'-to harmonic. Our musical
term symphony comes from it direct.
1t means, therefore, to take the best
natural view OF conditions as they
stand, irrespective OF any theory of
right and wrong. We have two famous
examples of it in our evening text.
Caiaphas, the high priest, argued that
Jesus should die for, said he, 'it is
eEDedient that one man should die
Tor the people and that the whole ma,
ton perish not" Therefore the lead
ers, from the stand of eXpediency. led
Christ to the cross, They did not
claim 1T to be just-it was only eXpedi-
Ont The other text is where Jesus
says, 1T is eXpedient for you that |
so away. for if | so not away the
holy spirit will not come unto YOU"
Hero Christ argues from expediency
as standard. Now, wherein lies the
dinerence? 1t is that in order to real.
~ know what is truly eXpedient one
r'ust know, as Christ did, the future.
therefore, eXpedlency is no standard
Tor erring men. CaiaphaS had lived
and advanced his interests by doing
ever what he deemed eXpedIent for
ms own interests, But in this case
he failed utterly and brought ruin to
ms church. city and people. and a few
years later by wrong determination
Of what the eXpedient course would
be brought about his own ruin All,
there is the difficulty We do not know
e1ough 10 know what the eXnedIent
course OF life is. Christ dld-we do
not. Long ago. EpheSus was Tho
great commercial center of the east
lhe fine harbOr drew vessels from far
and near, and wealth and prosperity
a0ounded. Then 1t was considered
c%pedlent to deepen the channel. and
no" should it be accomplished? The
great builder OF the day built sea
wall at the harbor mouth 10 change
'le tide current and so cut a deeper
channel But he knew not of a great
updertoW which. when his wall was
bnilded, silted the harbor fun of sand
and Ephesus was ruined You and
do not know the trend OF hee tomor-
rows; therefore we need a better
guide than eXpediency Moreover. {
~ a TACT of very common proving that
to be guided by eXpediency, even If it
does save the day, it weakens the
ran. one who is thus guided loses
all strength of character and power OF
VIII, and that Is too great a price to
pay for any life victory, even If you
should ever guess rightly
Chiefly, however. the error lies In
this' Right Is right, and it is always
wrong not to do right Any trend of
HE which gives God and his truth A
secondary place is wrong one: and
one must sooner or later pay the pen
atty for II. If not in this world, then
IN the neXt God has given two
Huides, viz, conscience and his word.
fDese reasonably taken together have
never yet beon proven by any mans
TO lead astrav In times
end places where the Bible has been
o'Eled the people their conscienccs
nave led them into awful errors. For
instance. the great errors Of the dark |
ages. For many today the Bible Is an
unknown book. Many whose names |
ere on church rolls know practically |
no'nlng OF its real teaching save by |
nearsay Such ones cannot be cited /
as examples OF following true guide. |
Many who know its teaching do not |
lc'low it. They cannot lay their fall
ing TO Its charge. But for those who
know 1t, and with all the power Of