elf."[46] Only such a One could conquer death; in none but Jesus the
Christ was realized this requisite condition of a Redeemer of the world.

What other man has come to earth with such appointment, clothed with the
authority of such foreordination? The atoning mission of Jesus Christ
was no self-assumption. True, He had offered Himself when the call was
made in the heavens; true, He had been accepted, and in due time came to
earth to carry into effect the terms of that acceptance; but He was
chosen by One greater than Himself. The burden of His confession of
authority was ever to the effect that He operated under the direction of
the Father, as witness these words: "I came down from heaven, not to do
mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."[47] "My meat is to do
the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."[48] "I can of
mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just;
because I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which hath
sent me."[49]

Through the atonement accomplished by Jesus Christ--a redeeming service,
vicariously rendered in behalf of mankind, all of whom have become
estranged from God by the effects of sin both inherited and individually
incurred--the way is opened for a reconciliation whereby man may come
again into communion with God, and be made fit to dwell anew and forever
in the presence of his Eternal Father. This basal thought is admirably
implied in our English word, "atonement," which, as its syllables
attest, is _at-one-ment_, "denoting reconciliation, or the bringing into
agreement of those who have been estranged."[50] The effect of the
atonement may be conveniently considered as twofold:

1--The universal redemption of the human race from death invoked by the
fall of our first parents; and,

2--Salvation, whereby means of relief from the results of individual sin
are provided.

The victory over death was made manifest in the resurrection of the
crucified Christ; He was the first to pass from death to immortality and
so is justly known as "the first fruits of them that slept."[51] That
the resurrection of the dead so inaugurated is to be extended to every
one who has or shall have lived is proved by an abundance of scriptural
evidence. Following our Lord's resurrection, others who had slept in the
tomb arose and were seen of many, not as spirit-apparitions but as
resurrected beings possessing immortalized bodies: "And the graves were
ope