The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-04-25
THE IMPENDING STRUGGLE
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN SPAIN
AND THE UNITED STATES.

Eloquent Sermon by Rev. Frank II. Luckey
at Humphrey Street Church Yesterday
The Absorbing issue of the Day Discussed
from Christian standpoint-very Strong
Reason for the Expulsion of Spain from
Cuba.
At Humphrey street Congregational
church yesterday morning the pastor,
Rev. Frank r. Luckey, who has just re-
turned from a stay of some duration
at Rock Ledge, Fla, preached an able
sermon, in which he pointed out the
reason why the United States is justi-
fed, from a Christian standpoint, in
waging war against Spain in order to
relieve Cuba from Spanish misrule.
His text was from Matthew, oath chap
ter and the 2Sth verse, which reads:
"Wheresoever the carcass is, there will
the vultures be gathered together"
He spoke, in part, as follows:
The grim parable has, of course, a
strong eastern coloring. 1t is best APP
preciated by jewellers in those lands.
They tell us that no sooner is some
sickly animal dead, or some piece of
carrion thrown out by the way, than
the eagles Cor vultures) appear There
may not have been one visible a mo-
ment before in the hot, blue sky, but
taught by scent or by sight that their
banquet Is prepared, they come flock
ing from all corners of the heavens, a
hideous crowd round their hideous
meal, fighting with Tapping wings and
tearing 1t with their ta1ons. And so,
says Christ, wherever there Is a rot
ting, dead society or government, down
upon it, as if drawn by some unerring
attraction, will come the eagles of the
divine judgment.
Just let me remind you of some in
stances and illustrations of a society
become a carcass, and the eagles Cor
more properly vultures) Gods scaven-
gers, coming and cleaning it away
from off the face of the earth. Take
that story, which people stumble over
in the early part of the Old Testa-
ment, Revelation-the sweeping away
of those Canaanitish nations, whose
moralities had turned the land into a
perfect style of denominations. There
they had been wallowing, and Gods
spirit, which strives with men ever
and always, had been striving with
them, we know not how long, but
when the time came at which, accord
ing to the grim metaphor of the Old
Tetament, "the measure of their infqui-
ty was FULL then He hurled upon
them the fierce hosts of the desert,
and in a whirlwind Of fire and sword
swept them off the face of the earth!
"Wheresoever the carcass is, there will
the eagles be gathered together"
Take another Illustration. These
very people who had been the execu-
TONERS of divine Judgment settled in
the land, fell into the snare-and you
know the story. The captivities of
Israel and judah were other illustra-
lions Of the same thing; a corrupt So
ciety, and the agles of divine judgment
swooping down upon it to clean it off
the face Of the earth! The fall Of Jeru-
salem, to which our Lord pointed in the
solemn context of the words of my
text, was another.
Take another illustration how, once
more, the executants fall under the
power of the same law of retribution.
That power, which was the instrument
in the divine hands to remove the cor
rupt carcass of Judea; that power which
crushed the feeble resources Of Judea
as a giant might crush a mosquito in
his grasp; that power in it's turn be-
come honeycombed with denominations
and immoralities; and then, down from
the frozen north came the fierce Goth
ic tribes over the Roman territory. One
of their leaders called himself the
''Scourge of Cod and he was right!
Another swooping down of the eagles
flashes from the blue heavens, and the
carrion society is torn to fragments by
their strong beaks!
Take another illustration; the French
revolution! The fathers sowed the
wind and the children reaped the whirl-
wind Generations of heartless luxury,
immoral separation of class from class,
and all the sins of a ruling caste
against a subject peop1e-these had
prepared the carrion carcass of French
society at the end of the last century.
Then, in carnival of blood, a deluge
of fire and sulphur, the rotten thing
was swept off the face of the earth,
and the world breathed more feebly for
it's destruction.
Take another illustration through
which many of us have lived. The
bitter legacy of negro slavery that
England gave to her giant son across
the Atlantic, our own United States,
which blasted and sucked the strength
out of our mighty republic, how went
it down? The vultures of war, Gods
scavengers, swept the thing from our
land and we breathe the more freely
for it's destruction. 1t took centuries
for the corpse to be ready, but when
it was ready, the vultures came and
made quick work of it!
And So as I say, all over the world,
and from the beginning of time with
delays according to the possibilities of
restora ton and recovery which the di-
vine eye alone discerns this law of
Judgment of evil, of elimination of that
which was beyond recovery, has been
working. Verify there is God that
judgeth the world in righteousness! The
wheels of God grind slowly, but they
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