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he took upon himself the Sins of thofe which otherwife had been damned, yet that Act of his was a moft vertuous, charitable, and most glorious Act, highly conformable to the Will of God, and confequently could not be the Object of Remorfe. The Grief and Horror in the Soul of Chrift, which we have expressed in the Explication of his Sufferings antecedent to his Crucifixion, had reference to the Sins and Punishment of Men, to the Justice and Wrath of God; but clearly of a nature different from the Sting of Confcience in the Souls condemned to eternal Flames. Again, an effential part of the Torments of Hell is a prefent and conftant fenfe of the everlasting displea fure of God, and an impoffibility of obtaining favour, and avoiding pain; an abfolute and complete defpair of any better condition, or the least re laxation: But Christ, we know, had never any fuch refentment, who looked upon the reward which was fet before him, even upon the Crofs; and offered up himself a fweet-fmelling Sacrifice: which could never be efficacious, except offered in Faith. If we fhould imagine any damned Soul to have received an exprefs Promife of God, that after, 10000 Years he would release him from thofe Torments, and make him everlastingly happy, and to have a true Faith in that Promife, and a firm Hope of receiving eternal Life; we could not fay that Man was in the fame condition with the rest of the damned, or that he felt all that Hell which they were fenfible of, or all that pain which was due unto his Sins: becaufe hope and confidence, and relying upon God, would not only mitigate all other pains, but wholly take away the bitter anguifh of Despair. Christ then, who knew the beginning, continuance, and conclufion of his Sufferings, who underflood the determinate minute of his own Death and Refurrection, who had made a Covenant with his Father for all the degrees of his Paffion, and was fully affured that he could fuffer no more than he had freely and deliberately undertaken, and fhould continue no longer in his Paffion than he had himself determined, he who by thofe Torments was affured to overcome all the Powers of Hell, cannot poffibly be faid to have been in the fame condition with the damned, and strictly and properly to have endured the Pains of Hell.

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Again, If we take the Torments of Hell in a metaphorical fenfe, for those Terrors and Horrors of Soul which our Saviour felt, which may therefore be called infernal Torments, because they are of greater Extremity than any other Tortures of this Life, and because they were accompanied with a fenfe of the Wrath of God against the Unrighteoufnefs of Men; yet this cannot be an interpretation of the Defcent into Hell, as it is an Article of the Creed, and as that Article is grounded upon the Scriptures. For all thofe Pains which our Saviour felt (whether, as they pretend, properly infernal, or metaphorically fuch) were antecedent to his Death; part of them in the Garden, part on the Cross; but all before he commended his Spirit into the hands of his Father, and gave up the Ghoft. Whereas it is fufficiently evident that the Defcent into Hell, as it now ftands in the Creed, fignifieth fomething commenced after his Death, contradiftinguished to his Burial; and, as it is confidered in the Apostle's Explication, is clearly to be understood of that which immediately preceded his Refurrection; and that alfo grounded upon a confidence totally repugnant to infernal Pains. For it is thus particularly expreffed: I forefaw the Lord always before my face; for he is on my right hand, that Pfal.16.9,10. I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoyce, and my tongue was glad; moreover alfo my flesh fhall reft in hope: because thou wilt not leave my foul in hell. Where the Faith, Hope, Confidence, and Affurance of Chrift is fhewn, and his flesh, though laid in the Grave, the place of Corruption, is faid to reft in hope, for this very reafon, because God would not leave his foul in hell. I conclude therefore, that the Defcent into Hell is not the enduring

the

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נפש word is

תעזב נפשי

the Torments of Hell: because, if strictly taken, it is not true; if metaphorically taken, though it be true, yet it is not pertinent.

The Third Opinion, which is alfo very late, at least in the manner of Explication, is, that in those words, Thou Jhalt not leave my Soul in Hell; the Soul of Chrift is taken for his Body, and Hell for the Grave, and confequently, in the Creed, He defcended into Hell, is no more than this, that Chrift in his Body was laid into the Grave. This Explication ordinarily is rejected, by denying that the Soul is ever taken for the Body, or Hell for the Grave; but in vain: For it must be acknowledged that fometimes the Scriptures are rightly fo, and cannot otherwife be, understood. First, the The Hebrew fame Word in the Hebrew, which the Pfalmift ufed, and, in the Greek, and the Greek Which the Apostle used, and we tranflate the Soul, is elfewhere used for the 4x, Body of a dead Man, and tranflated fo. And when we read in Moses of a Prohibition given to the High Prieft or the Nazarite, of going to or iya- coming near a dead Body, and of the Pollution by the Dead; the dead Boψεις * ψυχμώ dy in the Hebrew and the Greek is nothing else but that which elsewhere figPfal. 16. 10. nifieth the Soul. And Mr. Ainsworth, who tranflated the Pentateuch nearer But both the Letter than the Senfe, hath fo delivered it in compliance with the origifed for the nal Phrase; and may be well interpreted thus by our Tranflation, ↳ Te fhall Body of a dead not make in your flesh any cutting for a foul, that is, for the dead: For a 6. and it is fo foul be fhall not defile himself among the people, that is, There Jhall none be tranflated; defiled for the dead among his people: He that toucheth any thing that is unclean by a foul, that is, by the dead: Every one defiled by a foul, that is, by the dead: He shall not come at a dead foul, that is, He shall come at no dead Body. Thus Ainsworth's Tranflation flieweth, that in all these places the original word is that which originally fignifieth the Soul; and our Tranflation teacheth us, that though in other places it fignifieth the Soul, yet in these it himfelf unto must be taken for the Body, and that Body bereft of the Soul.

and Jvx, are

Man, Num.6.

for Mofes

Speaking there of a Nazarite, gives this

Law, All the

days that he

separateth

the Lord he

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fhall come at no dead Body, in the Original 22 25 M WEy, and in the LXX. inì wáon Yuxň teleλ&Tyrýṛ in eirexsce). In the fame manner the Law for the High-Prieft. Lev. 21.11. Neither fhall he go in to any dead body ΝΕΟ 5, 51, καὶ ἐπὶ πάσῃ ψυχῇ τελελόυτηκής εκ εἰτελούσε. And the general Law, Lev. 22. 4. And whofo toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, w Nyártó áons axadazoias Toxi Which is farther cleared by that of Num. 19.11. He that touches the dead body of any man, Qui tetigerit cadaver hominis; and v. 13. Whofoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, Omnis qui tetigerit humanæ aninæ morticinum. Therefore the WD and fox in Lev. 29. 4. do fignifie the cadaver or morticinum; as alfo Num. 5.2, Whofoever is defiled by the Dead, wo, wála árábaglov in ux, pollutum fuper mortuo. And VD) NOU áxálaz) izi Yox, Hag. 2. 13. is rightly tranflated, one that is unclean by a dead body. Thus feveral times UBI and fox are taken for the body of a dead Man; that body which polluted a Man under the Law by the touch thereof And Maimonides hath obferved, that there is no pollution from the Body till the Soul be departed. Therefore W and 4ux did fignifie the Body after the Separation of the Soul. And this was anciently observed by S. Auguftine, that the Soul may be taken for the Body only. Animæ nomine corpus folum poffe fignificari modo quodam locutionis oftenditur, quo fignificatur per id quod continetur illud quod continet; ficut ait quidam, Vina coronant, cùm coronarentur vafa vinaria; vinum enim continetur, & vas continet. Sicut ergò appellainus Ecclefiam Bafilicam quâ continetur populus, qui verè appellatur Ecclefia, ut nomine Ecclefiæ, id eft, populi qui continetur, fignificemus locum qui continet: ita quod animæ corporibus continentur, intelligi corpora filiornm per nominatas animas poffunt. Sic enim meliùs accipitur etiam illud, quòd Lex inquinari dicit eum qui intraverit fuper animam mortuam, hoc eft, fuper defuncti cadaver; ut nomine animæ mortuæ mortuum corpus intelligatur, quod animam continebat, quia & abfente populo, id eft Ecclefiâ, locus tamen ille nihilominus Ecclefia nuncupatur. Epift. 157. ad Optatum, de Animarum Origine. b Lev. 19. 21. d Lev. 22. 4. e Num. 5. 2. f Num. 6. 6.

*The Hebrew

,שאול word is

e Lev. 21. I.

Secondly, *The word which the Pfalmift ufed in Hebrew, and the Apothe Greek sinwb una ayn NS 15 “Or sx iyxalareifers foxkú μx eis åðlu, (or eis ädy as it is read in the Acts and in the Pfalins, alfo by the ancient MS. at S. James's.) And thefe generally run together, and fometimes fignifie no more than the Grave, as Gen. 37. 35. where Jacob, thinking that his Son Jofeph had been dead, breaks out into this Lad Expreffion, N N N N 1, "OTI xalabrooμas wogs & you my wear is ady, which we tranflate, For I will go down into the grave unto my Son mourning, upon the Authority of the anciens Targums. For although that of Onkelos keep the original word, NW; yet the Jerufalem Targum and that of Jonathan render is 22, in domum fepulchri; and the Perfian Targum, to the fame purpose, ; as alfo the Arabick Tranflation, Imò defcendam ad pulverem mæftus de filio meo. So Gen. 42. 38. in a 11, x xαlážɛté μu to yÃpas μ húns is ad which we tranflate, Then fhall ye bring down my grey hairs with forrow to the grave: where the Jerufalem Targum and that of Jonathan have it again map 25; and the Perfian again in fepulchrum ; the Arabick bb ad pulverem, or ad terram. And it is obferved by the Jewish Commentators that thofe Chriftians are mistaken who interpret those words spoken by Jacob, I will go down into Sheol, of Hell; declaring that Sheol there is nothing else but the Grave.,

ftle

stle in Greek, and is tranflated Hell, doth certainly in fome other Places fignifie no more than the Grave, and is tranflated fo. As where Mr. Ainsworth a Gen. 37. 35. followeth the Word, a For I will go down unto my Son mourning to hell; our Tranflation aiming at the Senfe, rendreth it, For I will go down into the grave unto my Son mourning. So again he, Te fhall bring down my gray hairs with forrow unto hell, that is, to the grave. And in this fenfe we lay, 42. 38. The Lord killeth and maketh alive; he bringeth down to the grave, and b 1 Sam. 2.6. bringeth up.

C

Now being the Soul is fometimes taken for the Body deserted by the Soul, and Hell is alfo fometimes taken for the Grave, the Receptacle of the Body dead; therefore it is conceived that the Prophet did intend these Significations in those Words, Thou shalt not leave my foul in hell; and confequently the Article grounded on that Scripture must import no more than this, Christ in refpect of his Body bereft of his Soul, which was recommended ingrave. to, and depofited in the hands of his Father, defcended into the

tioned this Ar

This Expofition hath that great Advantage, that he which first mentioned this Defcent in the Creed, did interpret it of the Burial; and where this Article was expreffed, there that of the Burial was omitted. But notwithstanding those Advantages, there is no Certainty of this Interpretation: First, Because he *which did fo interpret it, at the fame time, and in the Tenure * Ruffinus, of that Expreffion, did acknowledge a Defcent of the Soul of Christ into who first menHell; and those other † Creeds which did likewise omit the Burial, and ex- ticle, did in prefs the Defcent, did fhew, that by that Defcent they understood not that terpret it of of the Body, but of the Soul. Secondly, Because they which put thefe Words the Grave; as into the Roman Creed, in which the Burial was expreffed before, muft cer- ready obfertainly understand a Defcent distinct from that; and therefore though it might ved; but yet perhaps be thought a probable Interpretation of the Words of David, efpe- he did believe cially taken as belonging to David, yet it cannot pretend to an Expofition of flinct from the Creed, as now it ftands.

we have al

a

that, in the Expofition of the Creed:

Sed & quòd in infernum defcendit, evidenter prænunciatur in Pfalmis, &c. and then citing that of S. Peter, Unde & Petrus dixit, Quia Chriftus mortificatus carne, vivificatus autem fpiritu, in ipfo, ait, & eis qui in carcere inclufi erant in diebus Noe, in quo etiam quid operis egerit in inferno declaratur, as we before more largely cited the fame place. I fhewed before, that in the Creed made at Sirmium there was the Defcent mentioned, and the Burial omitted, and yet that Defcent was fo expreffed that it could not be taken for the Burial: Befides now I add, That it was made by the Arians, who in few Years before had given in another Creed, in which both the Burial and the Defcent were mentioned; as that of Nice in Thracia, πιθανόντα, καὶ ταφέντα, καὶ εἰς τὰ καταχθόνια κατελθόντα, ὃν αὐτὸς ὁ ᾅδης ἐτρόμαξεν. Theodoret. Hift. l. 2. c. 21. and not long after gave in another at Conftantinople to the fame purpose, saugweérte, lavórła, j ταρένια, καὶ εἰς τὰ καταχθόνια διεληλυθότα, ὃν τινα καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ ᾅδης ἔπληξεν. Socrat. lib. 2. c. 4.

The next Opinion is, That the Soul may well be understood either for the Noble part of Man diftinguished from the Body; or elfe for the Person of Man confifting of both Soul and Body, as it often is; or for the Living Soul, as it is diftinguished from the Immortal Spirit: but then the term Hell fhall fignifie no Place, neither of the Man, nor of the Body, nor of the Soul; but only the State or Condition of-Men in Death, during the Separation of the Soul from the Body. So that the Prophecy fhall run thus, Thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell, that is, Thou fhalt not fuffer me to remain in the common State of the Dead, to be long 'deprived of my Natural Life, to continue without Exercise, or Power of exercifing my vital Faculty: And then the Creed will have this Senfe, that Chrift was crucified, dead and buried, and defcended into Hell; that is, he went unto the Dead, and remained for a Time in the State of Death, as other Men do.

But this Interpretation supposeth that which can never appear, that Hades fignifieth not Death it felf, nor the Place where Souls departed are, but the State and Condition of the Dead, or their Permanfion in Death; which is a Notion wholly new, and confequently cannot interpret that which

Hh

reprefenteth

Greeks in this

not to defcend

when they

die; the first

the third Bia

it is

* The Opinion fenteth something known and believed of old, according to the Notions and of the ancient Conceptions of thofe Times. And that this Notion is wholly new, will apcafe is excel- pear, because not any of the ancient Fathers is produced to avow it, nor lently expref- any of the Heathen Authors which are produced do affirm it: Nay, fed by Tertul- evident that the Greeks did always by Hades understand a Place into which lian, who hews three the Souls of Men were carried and conveyed, diftinct and separate from that kinds of men Place in which we live; and that their different Opinions fhew, placing it, to be thought, fome in the Earth, fome under it, fome in one unknown Place of it, fome ad inferos in another. But efpecially Hades, in the Judgment of the ancient Greeks, cannot confift in this Notion of the State of Death, and the Permanfion Infepulti, the in that Condition, because there were many which they believed to be Jecond Aori, dead, and to continue in the State of Death, which yet they believed not to be in Hades, as *those who died before their Time, and those whose ditum eft, in- Bodies were unburied. Thus likewise the ancient Fathers differed much confepultos non cerning the Place of the Infernus; but never any doubted but that it figniros redigi quam jufta perceperint. De Anim. c. 56. Aiunt & immaturâ morte præventas eoufque vagari ifthic, donec reliquatio compleatur ætatis quâcum pervixiffent fi non intempeftivè obiiffent. Ibid. Proinde extorres inferûm habebantur, quas vi creptas arbitrantur, præcipuè per atrocitates fuppliciorum; crucis dico & fecuris, & gladii, & feræ. 1b. The Souls then of those whofe Bodies were unburied were thought to be kept out of Hades till their Funerals were performed, and the Souls of them who died an untimely or a violent Death, were kept from the fame Place until the Time of their natural Death fhould come. This he farther expreffes in the Terms of the Magicians, whose Art was conversant about Souls departed. Aut optimum eft hic retinere fecundùm ahoros, (i. e. ddess) aut peffimum, fecundùm Biæothanatos, (Baweaver89) ut ipfis jam vocabulis utar, quibus auctrix opinionum iftarum Magica fonat, Hoftanes, & Typhon, & Dardanus, & Damigeron, & Nectabis, & Bernice. Publica jam literatura eft quæ animas etiam jufta ætate fopitas, etiam proba morte disjunctas, etiam promptâ humatione difpunctas, evocaturam fe ab inferûm incolatu pollicetur, cap. 57. Of that of the Infepulti, he produceth the Example of Patroclus: Secundùm Homericum Patroclum funus in fomnis de Achille flagitantem, quòd non alias adire portas inferûm poffet, arcentibus eum longè animabus fepultorum, The Place he intended is that, Iliad. '.

othanati. Cre

ante ad infe

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Where it is the Obfervation of Euftathius, Οτι δόξα ἦν τοῖς Ἕλλησι, τὰς ἢ ἀθάπλων ψυχὰς μὲ ἀναμίγνυς ταῖς λοιταῖς. And the fame Euftathius obferves an extraordinary Accurateness in that Question of Penelope concerning Ulyffes, upon that fame ground, Odyff.

Εἶπε ἔτι ζώς, καὶ ὁρᾷ φάθ ηελίοιο·

Ἢ ἔτι τεθνήκς, καὶ εἶν αίδαο δόμοισι.

Τὸ 5, καὶ ὁρᾷ φῶς ἡλία, δι ὀρθότη]α ἀνοίας κεί). ὡς δικατὸν ὂν ζῆν μ, μὴ βλέπειν δέ. Οὕτω ἢ καὶ τὸ, εἰν αίδαο δόμοισι, προς ἀκρίβειαν λόγε ἐῤῥέθη και η τε τοῖς ἑξῆς δηλοθησόμθμον Ελλίωικὸν μῦθον, εἰ πᾶς τεθνηκὼς καὶ ἐν ᾅδε γίνει, εἰ μὴ καὶ πυρῷ δοθῇ, καθὰ καὶ ὁ Εὐριπίδα ἐμφαίνς Πολύδωρος· ὥσε τὸν ἢ ἤδη τέθνηκε, καὶ εἶν αίδαο δόμοισιν ἀντὶ τῶ, ἢ ἤδη τέθνηκε, καὶ τέραση. It is here very obfervable that, according to the Opinion of the Greeks, to be dead is one thing, and to be in Hades is another : and that every one which died was not in Hades, & wãs tedvnxws xj cv ads vive, as Euftathius fpeaks. Legimus præterea in Sexto infepultorum animas vagas effe, Serv. in Æneid. 3. The Place which he intended I suppose is this,

Hæc omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba eft ;
Fortitor ille Charon; hi quos vehit undâ fepulti,

Nec ripas datur horrendas nec rauca fluenta
Transportare priùs quàm fedibus offa quiêrunt.

Centum errant annos, volitantque hæc littora circum. Virg. Æn. 6.

Thus he is to be underflood in the Defcription of the Funeral of Polydorus, Æneid. 3.

Ergo inftauramus Polydoro funus, & ingens

Aggeritur tumulo tellus, animamque fepulchro
Condimus.-

Not that anima does there fignifie the body, as fome have observed; but that the Soul of Polydorus was then in rest when his Body received Funeral Rites, as Servius, Legimus præterea in Sexto infepultorum animas vagas effe, & hinc conftat non legitimè fepultum fuiffe. Ritè ergo redditâ legitimâ fepultura; redit ad quietem fepulchri, faith Servius; or rather, in the fenfe of Virgil, ad quietem inferni, according to the Petition of Palinurus,

Sedibus ut faltem placidis in morte quiefcam.

And that the Soul of Polydorus was fo wandring about the Place where his Body lay unburied, appeareth out of Euripides in Hecuba, where he fpeaketh thus, Νεω ὑπὲς μητρὸς φίλης Εκάβης αΐστω, τωμ' ἐρημώσας ἐμὸν, τριταίον ἔδη φέγρα aiagos And in the Troades of the fame Poet this ann, or erratio vagabunda infepultorum, is acknowledged by the Chorus in thefe Words, Ὦ φίλω, ὦ πόσι μοι, Σὺ μὲ φθίμμα αλαίνεις Αναπα, άνυδρG. And when their Bodies were buried, then their Souls paffed into Hades, to the reft. So was it with Polydorus, and that Man mentioned in the History of the Philofopher Athenodorus, whofe umbra or phasma walked after his Death. Inveniuntur offa inferta.catenis & implicita, quæ corpus ævo terrâq; putrefactum, nuda & exefa reliquerat vinculis: collecta publicè fepeliuntur; domus poftea ritè conditis manibus caruit. Plin. 1.7. Epift. 27. This was the Cafe of the Infepulti. And for that of the BixoƑ thanati, it is remarkable that Dido threatneth Æneas,

-fequar

-fequar atris ignibus absens,

Et cum frigida mors animâ feduxerit artus,
Omnibus umbra locis adero.-

nifi

Upon which Place Servius obferves, Dicunt Phyfici Biaothanatorum animas non recipi.in originem fuam, vagantes Hoc ergo legitimum tempus fati compleverint; quod Poetæ ad fepulturam transferunt, ut, Centum errant annos. nunc dicit Dido, Occifura me ante diem fum; vaganti mihi dabis pœnas: Nam te perfequar, & adero quàm diu erravero femper.

* Αδης

ἡμῖν απ ήγεν ἀφα

says, ras Luxas

ἡμῶν ἐντεῦθεν

as de

dreas Cæfar.

fied fome * Place or other: and if they had conceived any fuch Notion as "Adthe State of Death, and the Permanfion of the Dead in that State, they need-, ed not to have fallen into Doubts or Questions; the Patriarchs and the Prophets being as certainly in the State of Death, and remaining fo, as Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, are, or any Perfon which is certainly condemned to everlasting Flames. Though therefore it be certainly true that Christ did x. Antruly and Properly die, as other Men are wont to do, and that after Expi- in Apocal. ration he was in the State or Condition of the Dead, in deadlihood, as fome have learned to fpeak; yet the Creed had fpoken as much as this before, when it delivered that he was dead. And although 'tis true that he might have died, and in the next Minute of Time revived, and confequently his Death not (precifely taken) fignifie any Permanfion or Duration in the State. of Death, and therefore it might be added, he defcended into Hell, to fignifie farther a Permanfion or Duration in that Condition: yet if Hell do fignifie nothing else but the State of the Dead, as this Opinion doth suppose, then to defcend into Hell is no more than to be dead; and fo notwithstanding any Duration implied in that Expreffion, Christ might have afcended the next Minute after he defcended thither, as well as he might be imagined to revive the next Minute after he died. Being then to defcend into Hell, according to this Interpretation is no more than to be dead; being no Man ever doubted but that Perfon was dead who died; being it was before delivered in the Creed that Christ died, or, as we render it, was dead: we cannot imagine but they which did add this part of the Article to the Creed, did intend fomething more than this, and therefore we cannot admit this Notion as a full or proper Expofition.

There is yet left another Interpreration grounded upon the general Opinion of the Church of Chrift in all Ages, and upon a probable Expofition of the Prophecy of the Pfalmift, taking the Soul in the most proper fenfe for the Spirit or Rational part of Chrift; that part of a Man which, according to our Saviour's Doctrine, the Jews could not kill; and looking upon Hell as a Place diftinct from this part of the World where we live, and diftinguished from those Heavens whither Chrift afcended, into which Place the Souls of Men were conveyed after or upon their Death; and therefore thus expounding the Words of the Pfalmist in the Perfon of Christ; Thou shalt not fuffer that Soul of mine which fhall be forced from my Body by the Violence of Pain upon the Crofs, but refigned into thy hands, when it fhall go into that Place below where the Souls of Men departed are detained: Í fay, thou shalt not fuffer that Soul to continue there as theirs have done; but fhalt bring it fhortly from thence, and re-unite it to my Body.

For the better understanding of this Expofition, there are feveral things to be observed, both in refpect to the Matter of it, and in reference to the Authority of the Fathers. Firft therefore, this must be laid down as a certain and neceffary Truth, That the Soul of Man, when he dieth, dieth not, but returneth unto him that gave it, to be difpofed of at his Will and Pleafure; according to the ground of our Saviour's Counfel, Fear not them which kill the Matt. 10:28; body, but cannot kill the foul. That better part of us therefore in and after Death doth exist and live, either by virtue of its fpiritual and immortal Nature, as we believe; or at least the Will of God: and his Power upholding and pre

Hh 2

ferving

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