--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Talmage, James Edward collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 11 number: 10 published: 1908-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'James E. Talmage, "Lord of All," *Improvement Era* 11, no. 10 (August 1908): 769–772.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera11010unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera11010unse start_page: 769 end_page: 772 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1908-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera11010unse publication_year: 1908 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1908, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Lord of All LORD OF ALL. BY DR. JAMES E. TALMAGE, F. R. S. E. It is one of the weaknesses ofman to question the omnipo- tence of God. Human ignorance challenges Divine wisdom. The infinitesimally small arrays itself against the infinitely great. The atom believes itself the universe. It is my privilege to retire at intervals to a place of seclusion and rest, in the upper part of a large building, far above the rat- tle and roar of the city street. My room is lighted by large win- dows; and these, whenever I leave them ajar, afford egress to a variety of winged visitors of the insect tribe, such as flies, gnats, beetles, bees, and butterflies; and, if I leave the casements open when I work at night, moths that fly in the darkness come to me. When I retire to this room after an absence of several days, I find a number of insects on desk, table and floor. Their deaths are evidently due to the dry atmosphere of the closed room. Three days ago, while I was writing in the room, a wild bee from the neighboring hills came to visit me, entering through the crevice of the slightly opened window. When I was ready to leave, I threw the casement wide, and tried to drive the bee to liberty and safety. I pursued the flying creature, vigorously striking and swishing with a towel, knowing well that if it re- mained in the room it would die. The more I tried to drive it out, the more fiercely did it resist. Its erstwhile peaceful hum became an angry roar; its flight became hostile and threatening. At last itcaught me off my guard, and stung my hand the hand that — had tried to drive it to safety. Then it alighted on a carved pro- jection of the ceiling, beyond my reach of aid or injury. *Written for publication in Japan. 770 IMPROVEMENT ERA Today, I returned to the room, and found the shriveled corpse of the captive bee on my desk where it had fallen from the ceiling- point of fancied safety. To the bee's short-sighted mind I was a foe, a persistent pur- suer, a mortal enemy seeking its destruction. Yet, in truth I was its friend, offering a ransom of the life it had forfeited through its own error, striving to drive it in spite of itself from the prison of death to the open air of liberty. Notwithstanding the sharp wound of its sting, I had no un- kind thought, but rather pity and commiseration for the foolish creature. The bee paid for its stubbornness with its life. As to ourselves and the bee, are we so exalted that the analo- gy fails? Since the beginning of human history, man has sought to measure Omnipotence by human standards. Fleeting pleasure has been preferred to enduring happiness; the gilded bauble of the present is chosen rather than the true gold of eternal worth. To gauge Omnipotence by the yard-stick of mortal weakness, to arraign Omnipotence at the bar of human wisdom this is no — achievement worthy of modern praise, no mark of civilization or advancement. Yet such has been the usual course of man from the earliest time. It is written in Arabic lore of the long ago that a holy man once questioned the deeds of an angel of God. Thus runs the story An angel came to earth on special errand bent. Moses, the law-giver of Israel, met him and said: "Let me go with thee that Imay learn how God doth deal with man." The angel replied: "Thou couldst not understand my acts; yet, if thou wilt, thou mayest go with me; but question not what I shall do, whate'er it be." Moses and the angel journeyed together. They came to the shore of a lake whereon were many fishing boats. From one of these the angel struck away the boards, and the boat sank near to the shore. Moses was angered and demanded, "What means this? Dost thou destroy without cause?'' The angel answered, "I told thee thou couldst not understand." Anon they met an Arab boy wending his way joyously along LORD OF ALL. 771 the road. Upon him the angel breathed the breath of death; the boy fell and expired. Then Moses spake, "What ill deed is this? Dost thou slay the innocent?" Again the angel said, "I knew thou couldst not understand. Question me not; or leave me." Onward they journeyed. They entered a village on the out- skirts of which they stopped at a cottage. The garden wall was old and crumbling. The angel pushed upon it and it fell, crushing and spoiling the garden growth of vegetables and herbs. Then Moses broke forth, "Why dost thou destroy and spoil?" The angel answered, "I told thee thou couldst not understand. Now here we part, thou and I. Go thou the ways of earth, while I fol- low the appointed ways of heaven. Yet, before thou leavest I would thus make plain, that the name of my Lord be exalted and extolled: "The boat I broke belonged to poor fisher folk. Without the boat their livelihood is gone. But there cometh now a king's com- pany along that coast, seizing all goodly boats. When the king's company has passed, the fisher folk, who are faithful before the Lord, will raise their boat while all the rest have gone. — "Touching the Arab boy he was a goodly youth, but so great a power hath Satan over him that had he lived two moons more he would have slain his brother. Now his brother lives to bless his people, and the boy dies without guilt of blood. "As to the cottage and the garden wall — two worthy men live there. Their father loved his Lord. The father for safe keeping hid a treasure beneath the wall; this the sons will find, building up the ruins, and they will be enriched."* Thus it is shown that mortal afflictions ofttimes mean Divine blessings Yet, let it not be thought that dread calamities and dire dis- tresses occur as a direct result of the will and purpose of a loving God. He rejoices not in the anguish and suffering of his children. Having endowed them with the rights of agency and individual freedom, he permits the exercise of this agency even tothebring- Paraphrase of No. 77 of Pearls of the Faith, as translated by Sir Edwin Arnold; "Praise him, Al Mutahali; whose decree is wiser than the wit of man anc see." Compare Koran, chap, xviii. 772 IMPROVEMENT ERA. ing about of suffering and vicissitude. Even the Omnipotent may not shield man from the ill effects of voluntary actions without infringing upon the rights of free agency. There is no caprice in the dealings of God with man. If the Creator arbitrarily exempted some of his children from the ills naturally resulting from their acts, he could as well honor and aggrandize others beyond their merits. It is no result of Divine will that people sin, that men follow debauchery and vice. Neither is it God's will that nations pro- claim war, and send forth armies and navies to destroy or be de- stroyed. It is the will of God that in such dire contingencies the ordinary course of events, the natural sequence of cause and effect, be not interfered with. The Almighty is able to turn and over- turn the results of human acts so as to conduce to eventual good. Such a consummation, however, is neither justification nor excuse for wrong-doing. The ill-inspired sinners who crucified the Christ are answerable for their motives and their acts, though the sacrifice on Calvary has proved the world's redemption. We proclaim the atonement wrought by Jesus Christ, the means of salvation provided by the Son of God, the voice of the Lord as heard in this age —the dispensation of the fulness of times. This proclamation is to all people; it is the message of deliverance from sin and its sorrow, the decree of liberty, the charter of freedom. In olden times the Lord of heaven spoke by word of mouth to his chosen oracles. We proclaim that he speaks today. Why should the dead past be law to the active present? Is the voice of God silenced? Is his arm shortened that he cannot reach his children? Can he no longer speak to be heard, or move to be felt? We proclaim the present God, the speaking, moving, active — God the God who recognizes the free agency of his children and who holds them accountable for their acts. Salt Lake City, Utah.