Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-04-17
LIBERTY AND RIGHT.
Mr.. Cohen on the Message Of
the Passover.
Sermon Preached ut ohef shoiom syna-
gogue Yesterday Morning The School
in which Man Learned the First Lessons
OF LILO.

rabbi of Chef Sholem Synagogue, Sat-
urday morning preached on the mes
sage of the Passover. taking Liberty
and Right" as his theme. He said, in
part:
Man learnt the first lessons of life in
the school of nature. He drew his
thoughts and feelings from the world
without him and. in turn, breathed into
lnanimate things his own life. There
was a mutual interchange between man
and nature; nature became half
human. man half natural. Man became
the subject matter of nature: nature
the encyclopaedia of man. Man caught
up natures varying moods, and wheth
er grave or gay, kind or cruel, gentle
or severe. he learned to love and fear
ii as part of himself This close COM
munion with nature made him a close
student of its laws and changes. He
watched the coming and going of the
day and the night-the light, hazy
DAYS with azure sky and the dark
threatening days with omnibus clouds
scudding across the horizon. He noted
the waxing and waning of the moon
and the movement of the stars in their
courses. He watched the birth and
death, growth and decay of plant, ami
NAL. man and in animate things. And
OF all the fiuxes and changes none ap-
peared greater than that which marked
OH the cold. dark. bitter months from
the warm. light, sweet months. In the
cold. bitter months he felt keenly the
lack OF proper food and shelter. In the
air ABOVE he heard the fierce ice kings
blast and the monarch of the boreal
storm as he hurled his weapons of sIeet
and snow against the world. He lis
tened. in awe and dread, to the hollow
p ui monotone of the wild, fierce
WIND as 1t sighed amidst the trees, or
beat in feverish violence against his
rude hut. He saw the earth covered
with a shroud of purest whlte-emblem
or death. The plants withered and
Snrunken. the flowers dead. the trees
li1ting their Gaunt arms in mute appeal
LOT me life bitten from them by the
irost OF winter. Man even felt the
Grim Monster" creeping up his
numbed limbs, stirling his activity and
energy. So the winter has a period of
darkness. pain, cold. sorrow, fear,
dread. awe. death-the death period of
In the warm months all this has
changed. Man saw the wild fierce
winds turned into the gentle zephyrs of
spring and the return OF the hosts of
the benevolent gods; the sweeping
rains that drives away the snow, the
enunder or the spring god that drives
away the winter, the river king loosen
ING his stiffened limbs and swelling
over his banks to spread new soil over
the deadened land, the earth Changing
It's carpet of white to green, the plants
iiiiinG with buds. the trees sending
forth their tiny leaves, the returning
lark and thrush triiling in cadent cres
sendos. Earth freed from the chains
OF death leans with joyous liberty into
the arms of spring, and man could now
look forward in happy anticipation to
season OF freedom: care-f free, the
and hi
farmer could watch the grain rInenine
Deneath the summer sun. Indulgent
mother earth would give them food and
raiment from her bosom. or gently IulI
them TO sleep in her arms beneath the
pare; oiue' sclntillating. vaulted dome
OF me skV If the cold months spelt
all that was dark and hopeless in life
the warm months spelt all that was
iiHnt ana hopeful. And in this great
change man read liberty. Earth is
ireed from the enslavement Of the gods
or cold. darkness and death. so am T
iree. said man, who reflected naturs,s
freedom
SO In the spring time of the year the
ancient races held great festivals to
commemorate this liberation; usuallv
In honor of the god of the vine. These
i ,essvals were periods marked with
ievity, folly, license, drunkenness. The
| anclents. In learning the lesson of Iih-
erty from nature. learnt only hair tbo
lesson-ndividuai liberty-a nreIin,i'
nary to the higher lesson of liberty
'rhe rights of man." The ancient
races cuiled this from nature's toxt
| book and celebrated 1t will festi, 49,
| honor in the spring time.
| out inns is liberty in it's darkest side.
| 1t IS the liberty that kills; it has
helther ehtlcal or moral sanction. Here
mature mad misguided man. Nature
itself can set no boundary line between
! me right OF the individual and the
rights OF society. 1t cannot saw r.
man: Thus far shalt thou 60 and no
farther" Nature, of Itself. teaches
mere license, the power to do as one
pleases. which means the fulHlment ~
every desire. the satisfaction of mas
sion, the rule of the physically strong
| over the physically weak. Nature in
selflshness. But such liberty which re-
CARDS only self and not fellow-men IS
| labelled with distinct names. "Iibertin-
ism" "anarchism" The very reflex of
true liberty implies q careful regard
for the rights of others. The greatest
happiness to the greatest number, the
equality of opportunity for all
men. That all men nossass
this precious boon. We must crush
| out libertinism and anarchism; l. e..
we must limit individual liberty by
adding individual rights. The freedom
of others is as dear to them as Is our
own, and to encroach upon their free
dom Is taking license which true lib
erty never sanctioned. The Declaration
of Independence says: I'VE hold these
truths to be self-evident; that all men
are created equal; that they are en-
dowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights" The Declaration
of independence. one of the greatest
documents in the history Of human
freedom. speaks Of the inalienable
rights of ALL men to life. liberty and