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the God of Nature died? Why did all the People, who came to fee him crucified, and love to feed their Eyes with fuch Tragick Spectacles, why did they beat upon their Breafts and return, but that they were affured it was finished, there was no more to be feen, all was done? It was not out of Compaffion that the merciless Soldiers brake not his Legs, but because they found him dead whom they came to dispatch; and being enraged that their Cruelty fhould be thus prevented, with an impertinent Villany they pierce his Side, and with a foolish Revenge endeavour to kill a dead Man; thereby becoming ftronger Witnesses than they would, by being lefs the Authors than they defired, of his Death. For out of his facred, but wounded Side, came Blood and Water, both as evident Signs of his prefent Death, as certain Seals of our future and eternal Life. Thele are the two bleffed Sacraments of the Spouse of Chrift, each affuring her of the Death of her Beloved. The Sacrament of Baptifm, the Water through which we pafs into the Church of Chrift, teacheth us that he died to whom we come. For know you not, faith S. Paul, Rom. 6. 3. that so many of us as are baptized into Jefus Chrift, are baptized into his death? The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the Bread broken, and the Wine poured forth, fignifie that he died which inftituted it; and as often as 1 Cor. 11.26. we eat this bread, and drink this cup, we fhew forth the Lord's death till

be come.

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Dead then our Bleffed Saviour was upon the Crofs; and that not by a feigned or metaphorical, but by a true and proper, Death. As he was truly and properly Man, in the fame mortal Nature which the Sons of Adam have; 2 Τὸ ἔμψυχον fo did he undergo a true and proper Death, in the fame manner as we die. το αψύχο δια a Our Life appeareth principally in two Particulars, Motion and Senfation; and while both or either of these are perceived in a Body, we pronounce it igen dolives. Not that the Life it felf confifteth in either or both of thefe, but inthat which is the Original Principle of them both, which we call the Soul; and the intimate Prefence or Union of that Soul unto the Body is the Life wang thereof. The real Diftinction, of which Soul from the Body in Man, our Blefaro due 7 Wegg fueseχεδόν δυο

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de Anim. l. 1.

fed Saviour taught most clearly in that Admonition. Fear not them which kill a Vuzãs. Arist. the body, but are not able to kill the foul, but rather fear him which is able to deftroy both body and foul in hell. Now being Death is nothing elfe c. 2. 22but the Privation or Receffion of Life, and we are then properly faid to die Piedra vxa (leg. fuwhen we cease to live; being Life confifteth in the Union of the Soul unto ) the Body, from whence, as from the Fountain, flow Motion, Senfation, and yx, TOTO whatsoever vital Perfection; Death can be nothing elfe but the Solution of that turn. ἔτι ψυχή vital Union, or the actual Separation of the Soul, before united to the Body., and, As therefore when the Soul of Man doth leave the Habitation of its Body, avaria, voand being the fole Fountain of Vitality bereaves it of all vital Activity, we fay de Diis that Body or that Man is dead: fo when we read that Chrift our Saviour died, Mundo. c. 8. we must conceive that was a true and proper Death, and confequently that CASSecundus, his Body was bereft of his Soul, and of all vital Influence from the fame.

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d. Salluft.

b Mat. 10. 28.

φυγὴ καὶ ἀπό κλησις βίδ.

As the Philfophers have anciently expreffed it, especially Plato, who by the Advantage of an Error in the Original of Souls, beft vnderfood the end of Life: Τετό γε θάνατο ὀνομάζει, λύσις καὶ χωρισμός ψυχῆς ἀπὸ σώματα, η Phædone. Again, ο θάνατο τυ[χώνς ὤν, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ ἐδὲν ἄλλο ἡ δυοῖν πραγμάτοιν άλυσις, ο ψυχῆς καὶ τα σώματα, ἀπ' ἀλλή λοιν. in Gorgia. And more plainly and fully yet : Ηγέμεθα τι τ θάνατον εἶναι; Πάνυ γ ̓, ἔφη υπολαβὼν ὁ Σιμμίας, Αρα μὴ ἀλλό τι ἡ τ' δ ψυχῆς ἀπὸ τὸ σώματος ἀπαλλαγί; καὶ εἶναι τότο τεθνάναι, χωρὶς μὲ ἀπὸ τὸ ψυχῆς ἀπαλλαγῶ αὐτὸ καθ' ἑαυτὸ τὸ σῶμα γεγονέναι, χωρίς ἢ ψυχμώ τα σώματα ἀπαλλα δεῖσαν αὐτό καθ' αὐτά εἶναι; ἀρὰ μὴ ἀλλό τι ᾖ ὁ θά νατῶν ἢ τέτο; Οὐκ, ἀλλὰ τέτο, ἔφη, in Phædone. Thus with four feveral Words, λύσις, άλυσις, χωρισμός, ακὰ ἀπαλ Aayn, doth Plato express the Separation of the Soul from the Body, and maketh Death formally to confift of that Separa tion. This Solution is excellently expreffed by Phocylides;

Οὐ καλὸν ἀρμονίζω αναλυέμθμ ανθρώπειο.
ψυχαί δ' μίμνωσιν άκυροι αν φθιμθύοισι.
Πνεῦμα γδ ἐσὶ Θεὸ χρῆσις θνητοῖσι καὶ εἰκών,
Σώμα γδ' τα γαίης έχομθρ, καὶ πάντες ἐς αὐτ
Δυόμθμοι κόνις ἐσρθώ· αις δ' ἀνὰ πνεῦμα δέδεκ),

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55

So Tertullian: Opus autem mortis in medio eft, difcretio corporis animæque. De Anim. c. 51. Si mors non aliud determinatur quam disjunctio corporis animæque, contrarium morti vita non aliud definietur quam conjunctio corporis animæque. 16. c. 27. This Defcription of Death is far more philofophical than the Notion of Aristotle, who makės it to confift in the Corruption of Natural Heat; (Ανάγκη τοίνω ἅμα τό, τε ζῆν υπάρχειν καὶ τ' το θερμό Φυσικός σωτηρίαν, ἐ * καλέμθυον θάνατον εἶναι ἢ τότε φθοράν. in Parv. Natur. In as much as the Soul is not that natural Heat, and the Corruption of that Heat followeth upon the Separation of the Soul.

Nor is this only our Conception, or a doubtful Truth; but we are as much affured of the Propriety of his Death, as of the Death it felf. For that the unfpotted Soul of our Jefus was really and actually separated from his Body, that his Flesh was bereft of natural Life by the Seceffion of that Soul, appeareth by his own Refignation, Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit; and by the Evangelift's Expreffion, and having faid thus, he* gave up the Ghoft. When he was to die, he refigned his Soul; when he gave it up; he died; when it was delivered out of the Body, then was the Body dead: and fo Separation of the Eternal Son of God upon the Crofs did properly and truly die.

Luke 23. 46. *This is expreffed three ways, all fignifying the

his Soul from

his Body. St. Mark and St. Luke iživce, which is of the fame force with iioze. But because cnóxes doth not always fignifie an abfolute Expiration, but fometimes a Lipothymie only: as Hefychius, Exfúxsci, duoduμsci. So Hippocrates ufeth it, Εἰσὶ ἢ ἐξύτατοι καιροί) ὅσοις ή εκψύχεσι δὲν τὶ ὠφελῆσαι. I. I. de Morbis. And again, Εκψύχεσι ἢ διὰ τὸ αἷματα το μελάσασιν ἐξαπίνης γινομβρίζω. Left therefore we hould take ἐξέπνευσε in uch an imperfect fenfe, S. Matthew hath it apñes to avevμz, and S. John wagidane to wredμa. Which is a full Expression of the Seceffion of the Soul from the Body, and confequently of Death, which is, in the Language of Secundus, viμal áñósacis.

These three Points or Diftinétions of Time I have therefore noted, that I might occur to any Objection which poffibly might arife out of the ancient Philofophical Subtilty, which Aulus Gellius reports to be agitated at the Table of Taurus. The Question was propounded thus, Quæfitum eft, quando moriens mereretur, cùm jam in morte effet, an tum etiam cùm in vita foret. Where Taurus admonisheth the reft, that this was no light question; for, fays he, graviffimi Philofophorum fuper hac re ferio quæfiverunt; & alii moriendi verbum atque momentum manente adhuc vitâ dici atque fieri putaverunt; alii nihil in illo tempore vitæ reliquerunt, totumque illud quod mori dicitur morti vendicarent. The ancienter Philofophers were divided; fome faying a Man died in the time of his Life, others in the time of his Death. But Plato obferved a Contradiction in both; for a Man can neither be faid to die while he is alive, nor when he is dead; & idcircò peperit ipfe aliud quoddam novum in confinio tempus, quod verbis propriis atque integrisans Quow appellavit: which he thus defcribes in his Parmenides; Τὸ δ' ἐξαίφνης τοιῦτόν τι ἔοικε σημαίνειν, ὡς ἐξ εκείνες μεταβάλλον His Exάteogy. So A. Gellius. 1. 6. c. 13. Thus when our Saviour commended his Soul into the hands of the Father, he was yet alive; when the Soldier pierced his fide, he was already dead: and the Inftant in which he gave up the Ghoft was the itaiping when he died.

This Reality and Propriety of the Death of Chrift is yet farther illustrated from the Cause immediately producing it, which was an external Violence and Cruciation, fufficient to diffolve that Natural Difpofition of the Body which is abfolutely neceffary to continue the Vital Union of the Soul: the Torments which he endured on the Crofs did bring him to that State in which Life could not longer be naturally conferved, and Death, without Intervention of fupernatural Power, must neceffarily follow.

For Chrift, who took upon him all our Infirmities, Sin only excepted, had in his Nature not only a Poffibility and Aptitude, but also a Neceffity of dying; and as to any extrinfical Violence, able, according to the common course of Nature, to destroy and extinguish in the Body fuch an Aptitude as is indifpenfably required to continue in Union with the Soul, he had no natural Prefervative; nor was it in the Power of his Soul to continue its Vital Conjunction unto his Body bereft of a Vital Difpofition.

John 10. 18. It is true that Chrift did voluntarily die, as he faid of himfelf, No man taketh away my Life from me, but I lay it down of my self, I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. For it was in his power whether he would come into the power of his Enemies; it was in his power to fuffer or not to fuffer the Sentence of Pilate, and the nailing to the Cross; it was in his power to have come down from the Crofs, when he was nailed to it: but when by an Act of his Will he had fubmitted to that Death, when he had accepted and embraced thofe Torments to the laft, it was not in the power of his Soul to continue any longer Vitality to the Body, whofe Vigour was totally exhaufted. So not by a neceffary Compulfion, but voluntary Election, he took upon him a Neceffity of Dying.

Mark 15. 44.

'Tis true that Pilate marvelled he was dead fo foon, and the two Thieves

lived longer to have their Legs broken, and to die by the Acceffion of another Pain: but we read not of fuch long Furrows on their Backs as were made on his, nor had they fuch kind of Agony as he was in the Night before. What though he cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost? What though Mark 15. 37, the Centurion, when he faw it, faid, Truly this man was the Son of God? 39. The Miracle was not in the Death, but in the Voice: the Strangeness was not that he should die, but that at the point of Death he fhould cry out fo loud: he died not by, but with, a Miracle.

Should we imagine Chrift to anticipate the time of Death, and to fubstract his Soul from future Torments neceffary to cause an Expiration; we might rationally fay the Jews and Gentiles were guilty of his Death, but we could not properly say they flew him: guilty they muft be, because they inflicted thofe Torments on which in time Death must neceffarily follow; but flay him actually they did not, if his Death proceeded from any other Caufe, and not from the Wounds which they inflicted: whereas St. Peter exprefly chargeth his Enemies, Him ye have taken, and by wicked hands a Acts 2. 23: have crucified and flain; and again, The God of our fathers raised up Jefus, ↳ Acts 5. 30. whom ye flew, and hanged on a tree. Thus was the Lamb properly flain, in both which and the Jews Authors of his Death, as well as of his Crucifixion. places the Original fhewerh more exprefly, that by their Crucifixion they flew him: in the former thus, 2 xação ávóμav wegwáğarles úv¢óλels. In the latter thus, ὃν ὑμεῖς διαχειρίσασθε κρεμάσαντες ἐπὶ ξύλα.

a

Wherefore being Chrift took upon himself our Mortality in the highest fenfe, as it includeth a Neceffity of dying; being he voluntarily fubmitted himself to that bloody Agony in the Garden, to the hands of the Plowers who made long their Furrows, and to the Nails which faftned him to the Crofs; being these Torments thus inflicted and continued did caufe his Death, and in this Condition he gave up the ghoft; it followeth that the only-begotten Son of God, the true Meffias promifed of old, did die a true and proper Death. Which is the fecond Conclufion in this Explication.

- But, Thirdly, because Chrift was not only Man, but also God, and there was not only an Union between his Soul and Body while he lived, but also a Conjunction of both Natures, and an Union in his Perfon: it will be farther neceffary, for the understanding of his Death, to fhew what Union was diffolved, what continued; that we may not make that Separation either less or greater than it was.

Whereas then there were two different fubftantial Unions in Chrift, one of the Parts of his Human Nature each to other, in which his Humanity did confift, and by which he was truly Man; the other of his Natures, Human and Divine, by which it came to pafs that God was Man, and that Man God: First, It is certain, as we have already fhewed, that the Union of the Parts of his Human Nature was diffolved on the Crofs, and a real Separation made between his Soul and Body. As far then as Humanity confifts in the effential Union of the Parts of Human Nature, fo far the Humanity of Chrift upon his Death did cease to be, and confequently he ceased to be Man. But, Secondly, the Union of the Natures remained ftill as to the Parts, nor was the Soul or Body feparated from the Divinity, but ftill fubfifted as they did before, by the Subfiftence of the Second Perion of the Trinity.

C

2

b

c Credimus

Patrem, fed

The Truth of this Affertion appeareth, firft, from the Language of this very certè non in Creed. For as we proved before, that the Only-begotten and Eternal Son of folum Deum God, God of God, very God of very God, was conceived and born, and fuf- & in Jefum fered, and that the Truth of these Propofitions relied upon the Communion Chriftum fili

uni ejus unicum, Dominum noftrum. Modò totum dixi, in Jefum Chriftum filium ejus unicum, Dominum noftrum, totum ibi intellige, & verbum, & animam, & carnem. Sed utique confiteris etiam illud quod habet eadem Fides, in eum Chriftum te credere qui crucifixus eft & fepultus. Ergo etiam fepultum Chriftum effe non negas, & tamen fola caro fepulta eft. Si enim erat ibi anima, non erat mortuus; fi autem vera mors erat, & ejus vera fit refurrectio, fine anima fuerat in fepulchro, & tamen fepultus eft Chriftus. Ergo Chriftus erat etiam fine anima càro, quia non eft fepulta nifi caro. S. Aug. in Joh. Tr. 48.

of

Orat. 1. de Re

of Properties, grounded upon the Hypoftatical Union: fo while the Creed in the fame manner proceedeth fpeaking of the fame Perfon, that he was buried and defcended into Hell, it fheweth that neither his Body, in refpect of which he was buried, nor his Soul, in refpect of which he was generally conceived to defcend into Hell, had loft that Union.

Again, as we believe that God redeemed us by his own Blood, fo also it hath been the conftant Language of the Church, that God died for us: which cannot be true, except the Soul and Body in the inftant of Separation, were united to the Deity.

Indeed, being all the Gifts of God are without Repentance, nor doth he ever fubftract his Grace from any without their Abuse of it, and a finful Demerit in themselves; we cannot imagine the Grace of Union should be taken from Chrift, who never offended, and that in the highest act of Obedience, and the greatest Satisfaction to the Will of God.

'Tis true, Chrift cried upon the Crofs with a loud Voice, faying, My God, *Greg. Nyff my God, why haft thou for faken me? *But if that Dereliction fhould fignifie fur. Oya folution of the former Union of his Natures, the Separation had been made ave not at his Death, but in his Life. Whereas indeed those words infer no more than that he was bereft of fuch Joys and Comforts from the Deity, as fhould affwage and mitigate the Acerbity of his present Torments.

Θεῖ διὰ τ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν

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φύσιν μετασκουάσανο, ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τὸ καὶ τὸ πάθος οικονομίας & πατέρας μέρας τὸ ἅπαξ ἐΓκραθὲν ἀνεχώρησεν· ἀμεταμέληλα γδ τὸ Θεὸ τὰ χαρίσματα· ἀλλὰ τμ ψυχμώ τα σώματα ή θεότης εκεσίως διέζευξεν, ἑαυτῶν ἢ ἐν ἀμφοτέροις μαύασαν જલět.

It remaineth therefore, that when our Saviour yielded up the Ghost, he fuffered only an external Violence; and what was fubject to fuch corporal Force did yield unto those dolorous Impreffions. Being then fuch is the imbecility and frailty of our Nature, that Life cannot long fubfift in exquifite Torments; the Difpofition of his Body failed the Soul, and the Soul deferted his Body. But being no Power hath any force againft Omnipotency, nor could any corporal or finite Agent work upon the Union made with the Word, therefore that did ftill remain entire both to the Soul and to the Body. The Word was once indeed without either Soul or Body; *This is the but after it was made Flesh, it was never parted either from the one or Conclusion of S. Auguft. Ex from the other. quo Verbum

*

caro factum eft, ut habitaret in nobis, & fufceptus eft à Verbo homo, id eft totus homo, anima & caro, quid fecit paffio, quid fecit mors, nifi corpus ab anima feparavit? animam verò à Verbo non feparavit. Si enim mortuus eft Dominus-fine dubio caro ipfius exfpiravit animam, (ad tempus enim exiguum anima deferuit carnem, fed redeunte animâ refurrecturam) à Verbo autem animam feparatam effe non dico. Latronis animæ dixit, Hodie mecum eris in Paradifo. Fidelem latronis animam non deferebat, & deferebat fuam? Abfit: fed illius ut Dominus cuftodivit, fuam verò infeparabiliter habuit. Si autem dixerimus, quia ipfa fe anima pofuit, & iterùm, ipfà fe fumpfit, absurdissimus fenfus eft: non enim quæ à Verbo non erat feparata à feipfa potuit feparari. Tract. in Joh. 47.

This Chrift did really and truly die, according to the condition of Death to which the Nature of Man is fubject: but although he was more than Man, yet he died no more than Man can die; a Separation was made between his Soul and Body, but no difunion of them and his Deity. They were dif joined one from another, but not from him that took them both together; rather by virtue of that remaining conjunction they were again united after voy Clea, their Separation. And this I conceive fufficient for the third and last part of das 96- Our Explication.

* Ἐπεὶ διπλῶν μὲ τὸ ἀνθρώπι

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της φύσις, ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τε τα σώματα από το ψυχῆς Δαζούξεως ζωδιαχίζει τη βιωθέτῳ τὸ ἀδ' αίρετον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἔμπαλιν γίνε)· τῇ δ ̓ ἑνότητι τε θείας φύσεως, τὸ καὶ τὸ ἴσον ἐν ἀμφοτέροις ἔσης, πάλιν προς άλληλα τὰ πατώτα συμφύε). Greg. Nyf Orat. 1. de Refur. Tàm velox incorruptæ carnis vivificatio fuit, ut major ibi effet foporis fimilitudo quam mortis; quoniam Deitas, quæ ab utraque fufcepti hominis fubftantia non receffit, quod poteftate divifit; poteftate conjunxit Leo Serm. 1. de Refurr.

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The Neceffity of this part of the Article is evident, in that the Death of Chrift is the most intimate and effential part of the Mediatorship, and that which moft intrinfically concerns every Office and Function, of the Media tor, as he was Prophet, Priest, and King.

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b1 Tim. 6. 12. C1 Joh. 5.6,8,

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Heb. 13. 20.

Firft, It was neceffary, as to the Prophetical Office, that Chrift fhould die, to the end that the Truth of all the Doctrine which he delivered might be confirmed by his Death. He was the true and faithful witness, who before Rev. 3. 14. Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confeffion. This is he that came by wa ter and blood: and there are three that bare witness in earth, the spirit, the water, and the blood. He preached unto us a new d and better cove̟- ¿Heb.8.6. nant, which was established upon better promises, and that was to be ratified with his Blood; which is therefore called by Chrift himself the Blood of the Mat.6.18. New Teftament, or, Everlasting Covenant: for that Covenant was alfo a Teftament; and 8 where a teftament is, there must alfo of neceffity be the Heb. 10. 29. death of the teftator. Befide, Chrift, as a Prophet, taught us not only by Heb. 9. 16. Word, but by Example; and though every Action of his Life who came to fulfil the Law, be moft worthy of our Imitation; yet the most eminent Example was in his Death, in which he taught us much Variety of Chriftian Vertues. What Example was that of Faith in God, to lay down his life, ↳ John 10.17. that he might take it again; in the bitterness of his Torments to commend Luke 23.46. his Spirit into the hands of his Father; and for the joy that was fet be- Heb. 12. 2. fore him, to endure the cross, and defpife the foame? What a Pattern of Meeknefs, Patience, and Humility, for the Son of man to come not to be mi-1 Mat. 20. 28. niftred unto, but to minifter, and give his life a ranfome for many; to be affs 8. 32. led like a fheep to the flaughter, and like a Lamb dumb before the bearer, his mouth; to endure the contradictions of finners against him- Heb. 12.3. not to open Self, and to humble himself unto death, even the death of the cross? What ao Phil. 2. 8. Precedent of Obedience, for the Son of God to learn Obedience by the things Heb. 5.8. that he fuffered; to be made under the Law, and, though he never broke Gal. 4. 4. the Law, to become obedient unto death; to go with Chearfulness to the Cross Phil. 2. 8. upon this Refolution, as my Father gave me commandment, even so I do? John 14. 31. What Exemplar of Charity, to die for us while we were yet finners and ene- Rom. 5.8. mies, when greater love hath no man than this, to lay down his life for his John 15. 13. friends; to pray upon the Crofs for them that crucified him, and to apologize for fuch as barbaroufly flew him; Father, forgive them for they know not Luke 23.34. what they do? Thus Chrift did fuffer for us, leaving us an example that we 1 Pet. 2. 21. fhould follow his fteps, that as he fuffered for us, in the flesh, we would arm 4.1, 2. our felves likewife with the fame mind. For he that hath fuffered in the flesh, bath ceafed from fin: That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flefb, to the lufts of men, but to the will of God. And fo his Death was neceffary for the Confirmation and Completion of his Prophetical Office.

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Secondly, It was necessary that Chrift fhould die, and by his Death perform the Sacerdotal Office. For every High-priest taken from among men, is or- Heb. 5. 1. dained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and facrifices for fins. But Chrift had no other Sacrifice to offer for our Sins than himfelf. For it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take Heb. 10. 4. away fins: and therefore when Sacrifice and Offering God would not, then ver. 8, 9. faid he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God; then did Chrift determine to offer up himself for us. And because the Sacrifices of old were to be flain, and generally without hedding of blood there is no remiffion; therefore if he will Heb. 9. 22. offer Sacrifice for Sin he muft of Neceffity die, and fo make his Soul an Offer- Isa. 53. 10. ing for Sin. If Chrift be our Paffover, he must be facrificed for us. We were fold under Sin, and he which will redeem us muft give his Life for our Redemption: for we could not be redeemed with corruptible things, as filver and 1 Pet. 1. 18, gold, but only with the precious blood of Chrift, as of a Lamb without blemish

19.

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