Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/topics27/t27950

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27951
 February 16                                              Evening

 \\"Thy good Spirit."\\
                                                  --Nehemiah 9:20

    Common, too common is the sin of forgetting the Holy Spirit.
 This is folly and ingratitude. He deserves well at our hands,
 for he is good, supremely good. As God, he is good essentially.
 He shares in the threefold ascription of Holy, holy, holy, which
 ascends to the Triune Jehovah. Unmixed purity and truth, and
 grace is he. He is \\good benevolently\\, tenderly bearing with
 our waywardness, striving with our rebellious wills; quickening
 us from our death in sin, and then training us for the skies as
 a loving nurse fosters her child. How generous, forgiving, and
 tender is this patient Spirit of God. He is \\good operatively\\.
 All his works are good in the most eminent degree: he suggests
 good thoughts, prompts good actions, reveals good truths,
 applies good promises, assists in good attainments, and leads to
 good results. There is no spiritual good in all the world of
 which he is not the author and sustainer, and heaven itself will
 owe the perfect character of its redeemed inhabitants to his
 work. He is \\good officially\\; whether as Comforter,
 Instructor, Guide, Sanctifier, Quickener, or Intercessor, he
 fulfils his office well, and each work is fraught with the
 highest good to the church of God. They who yield to his
 influences become good, they who obey his impulses do good, they
 who live under his power receive good. Let us then act towards
 so good a person according to the dictates of gratitude. Let us
 revere his person, and adore him as God over all, blessed for
 ever; let us own his power, and our need of him by waiting upon
 him in all our holy enterprises; let us hourly seek his aid, and
 never grieve him; and let us speak to his praise whenever
 occasion occurs. The church will never prosper until more
 reverently it believes in the Holy Ghost. He is so good and
 kind, that it is sad indeed that he should be grieved by slights
 and negligences.
27952
 February 17                                              Evening

 \\"Whereas the Lord was there."\\
                                                  --Ezekiel 35:10

    Edom's princes saw the whole country left desolate, and
 counted upon its easy conquest; but there was one great
 difficulty in their way--quite unknown to them--"\\The Lord was\\
 \\there\\"; and in his presence lay the special security of the
 chosen land. Whatever may be the machinations and devices of the
 enemies of God's people, there is still the same effectual
 barrier to thwart their design. The saints are God's heritage,
 and he is in the midst of them, and will protect his own. What
 comfort this assurance yields us in our troubles and spiritual
 conflicts! We are constantly opposed, and yet perpetually
 preserved! How often Satan shoots his arrows against our
 \\faith\\, but our faith defies the power of hell's fiery darts;
 they are not only turned aside, but they are quenched upon its
 shield, for "the Lord is there." \\Our good works\\ are the
 subjects of Satan's attacks. A saint never yet had a virtue or a
 grace which was not the target for hellish bullets: whether it
 was hope bright and sparkling, or love warm and fervent, or
 patience all-enduring, or zeal flaming like coals of fire, the
 old enemy of everything that is good has tried to destroy it.
 The only reason why anything virtuous or lovely survives in us
 is this, "the Lord is there."

    If the Lord be with us through life, we need not fear for our
 dying confidence; for \\when we come to die\\, we shall find
 that "the Lord is \\there\\"; where the billows are most
 tempestuous, and the water is most chill, we shall feel the
 bottom, and know that it is good: our feet shall stand upon the
 Rock of Ages when time is passing away. Beloved, from the first
 of a Christian's life to the last, the only reason why he does
 not perish is because "\\the Lord is there\\." When the God of
 everlasting love shall change and leave his elect to perish,
 then may the Church of God be destroyed; but not till then,
 because it is written, JEHOVAH SHAMMAH, "\\The Lord is there\\."

27953
 February 18                                              Evening

 \\"Father, I have sinned."\\
                                                     --Luke 15:18

    It is quite certain that those whom Christ has washed in his
 precious blood need not make a confession of sin, as culprits or
 criminals, before God the Judge, for Christ has for ever taken
 away all their sins in a legal sense, so that they no longer
 stand where they can be condemned, but are once for all accepted
 in the Beloved; but having become children, and offending as
 children, ought they not every day to go before their heavenly
 Father and confess their sin, and acknowledge their iniquity in
 that character? Nature teaches that it is the duty of erring
 children to make a confession to their earthly father, and the
 grace of God in the heart teaches us that we, as Christians, owe
 the same duty to our heavenly Father. We daily offend, and ought
 not to rest without daily pardon. For, supposing that my
 trespasses against my Father are not at once taken to him to be
 washed away by the cleansing power of the Lord Jesus, what will
 be the consequence? If I have not sought forgiveness and been
 washed from these offences against my Father, I shall feel at a
 distance from him; I shall doubt his love to me; I shall tremble
 at him; I shall be afraid to pray to him: I shall grow like the
 prodigal, who, although still a child, was yet far off from his
 father. But if, with a child's sorrow at offending so gracious
 and loving a Parent, I go to him and tell him all, and rest not
 till I realize that I am forgiven, then I shall feel a holy love
 to my Father, and shall go through my Christian career, not only
 as saved, but as one enjoying present peace in God through Jesus
 Christ my Lord. There is a wide distinction between confessing
 sin \\as a culprit\\, and confessing sin \\as a child\\. The
 Father's bosom is the place for penitent confessions. We have
 been cleansed once for all, but our feet still need to be washed
 from the defilement of our daily walk as children of God.
27954
 February 19                                              Evening

 \\"He first findeth his own brother Simon."\\
                                                      --John 1:41

    This case is an excellent pattern of all cases where
 spiritual life is vigorous. \\As soon as a man has found Christ,\\
 \\he begins to find others\\. I will not believe that thou hast
 tasted of the honey of the gospel if thou canst eat it all
 thyself. True grace puts an end to all spiritual monopoly.
 Andrew \\first\\ found his own brother Simon, and then others.
 \\Relationship has a very strong demand upon our first\\
 \\individual efforts\\. Andrew, thou didst well to begin with
 Simon. I doubt whether there are not some Christians giving away
 tracts at other people's houses who would do well to give away a
 tract at their own--whether there are not some engaged in works
 of usefulness abroad who are neglecting their special sphere of
 usefulness at home. Thou mayst or thou mayst not be called to
 evangelize the people in any particular locality, but certainly
 thou art called to see after thine own servants, thine own
 kinsfolk and acquaintance. Let thy religion begin at home. Many
 tradesmen export their best commodities--the Christian should
 not. He should have all his conversation everywhere of the best
 savour; but let him have a care to put forth the sweetest fruit
 of spiritual life and testimony in his own family. When Andrew
 went to find his brother, he little imagined how eminent Simon
 would become. \\Simon Peter was worth ten Andrews\\ so far as we
 can gather from sacred history, and yet Andrew was instrumental
 in bringing him to Jesus. You may be very deficient in talent
 yourself, and yet you may be the means of drawing to Christ one
 who shall become eminent in grace and service. Ah! dear friend,
 you little know the possibilities which are in you. You may but
 speak a word to a child, and in that child there may be
 slumbering a noble heart which shall stir the Christian church
 in years to come. Andrew has only two talents, but he finds
 Peter. Go thou and do likewise.

27955
 February 20                                              Evening

 \\"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be\\
 \\tempted of the devil."\\
                                                    --Matthew 4:1

    A holy character does not avert temptation--Jesus was
 tempted. When Satan tempts us, his sparks fall upon tinder; but
 in Christ's case, it was like striking sparks on water; yet the
 enemy continued his evil work. Now, if the devil goes on
 striking when there is no result, how much more will he do it
 when he knows what inflammable stuff our hearts are made of.
 Though you become greatly sanctified by the Holy Ghost, expect
 that the great dog of hell will bark at you still. In the haunts
 of men we expect to be tempted, but even seclusion will not
 guard us from the same trial. Jesus Christ was led away from
 human society into the wilderness, and was tempted of the devil.
 Solitude has its charms and its benefits, and may be useful in
 checking the lust of the eye and the pride of life; but the
 devil will follow us into the most lovely retreats. Do not
 suppose that it is only the worldly-minded who have dreadful
 thoughts and blasphemous temptations, for even spiritual-minded
 persons endure the same; and in the holiest position we may
 suffer the darkest temptation. The utmost consecration of
 spirit will not insure you against Satanic temptation. Christ
 was consecrated through and through. It was his meat and drink
 to do the will of him that sent him: and yet he was tempted!
 Your hearts may glow with a seraphic flame of love to Jesus, and
 yet the devil will try to bring you down to Laodicean
 lukewarmness. If you will tell me when God permits a Christian
 to lay aside his armour, I will tell you when Satan has left off
 temptation. Like the old knights in war time, we must sleep with
 helmet and breastplate buckled on, for the arch-deceiver will
 seize our first unguarded hour to make us his prey. The Lord
 keep us watchful in all seasons, and give us a final escape from
 the jaw of the lion and the paw of the bear.

27956
 February 21                                              Evening

 \\"Understandest thou what thou readest?"\\
                                                      --Acts 8:30

    We should be abler teachers of others, and less liable to be
 carried about by every wind of doctrine, if we sought to have a
 more intelligent understanding of the Word of God. As the Holy
 Ghost, the Author of the Scriptures is he who alone can
 enlighten us rightly to understand them, we should constantly
 ask his teaching, and his guidance into all truth. When the
 prophet Daniel would interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream, what did
 he do? He set himself to earnest prayer that God would open up
 the vision. The apostle John, in his vision at Patmos, saw a
 book sealed with seven seals which none was found worthy to
 open, or so much as to look upon. The book was afterwards opened
 by the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who had prevailed to open it;
 but it is written first--"I wept much." The tears of John, which
 were his liquid prayers, were, so far as he was concerned, the
 sacred keys by which the folded book was opened. Therefore, if,
 for your own and others' profiting, you desire to be "filled
 with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual
 understanding," remember that prayer is your best means of
 study: like Daniel, you shall understand the dream, and the
 interpretation thereof, when you have sought unto God; and like
 John you shall see the seven seals of precious truth unloosed,
 after you have wept much. Stones are not broken, except by an
 earnest use of the hammer; and the stone-breaker must go down on
 his knees. Use the hammer of diligence, and let the knee of
 prayer be exercised, and there is not a stony doctrine in
 revelation which is useful for you to understand, which will not
 fly into shivers under the exercise of prayer and faith. You may
 force your way through anything with the leverage of prayer.
 Thoughts and reasonings are like the steel wedges which give a
 hold upon truth; but prayer is the lever, the prise which forces
 open the iron chest of sacred mystery, that we may get the
 treasure hidden within.

27957
 February 22                                              Evening

 \\"The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power."\\
                                                      --Nahum 1:3

    Jehovah "\\is slow to anger\\." When mercy cometh into the
 world she driveth winged steeds; the axles of her chariot-wheels
 are red hot with speed; but when wrath goeth forth, it toileth
 on with tardy footsteps, for God taketh no pleasure in the
 sinner's death. God's rod of mercy is ever in his hands
 outstretched; his sword of justice is in its scabbard, held down
 by that pierced hand of love which bled for the sins of men.
 "The Lord is slow to anger," because he is GREAT IN POWER. He is
 truly great in power who hath power over himself. When God's
 power doth restrain himself, then it is power indeed: the power
 that binds omnipotence is omnipotence surpassed. A man who has a
 strong mind can bear to be insulted long, and only resents the
 wrong when a sense of right demands his action. The weak mind is
 irritated at a little: the strong mind bears it like a rock
 which moveth not, though a thousand breakers dash upon it, and
 cast their pitiful malice in spray upon its summit. God marketh
 his enemies, and yet he bestirs not himself, but holdeth in his
 anger. If he were less divine than he is, he would long ere this
 have sent forth the whole of his thunders, and emptied the
 magazines of heaven; he would long ere this have blasted the
 earth with the wondrous fires of its lower regions, and man
 would have been utterly destroyed; but the greatness of his
 power brings us mercy. Dear reader, what is your state this
 evening? Can you by humble faith look to Jesus, and say, "My
 substitute, thou art my rock, my trust"? Then, beloved, be not
 afraid of God's power; for by faith you have fled to Christ for
 refuge, the power of God need no more terrify you, than the
 shield and sword of the warrior need terrify those whom he
 loves. Rather rejoice that he who is "great in power" is your
 Father and Friend.

27958
 February 23                                              Evening

 \\"Take up the cross, and follow me."\\
                                                     --Mark 10:21

    You have not the making of your own cross, although unbelief
 is a master carpenter at cross-making; neither are you permitted
 to choose your own cross, although self-will would fain be lord
 and master; but your cross is prepared and appointed for you by
 divine love, and you are cheerfully to accept it; you are to
 take up the cross as your chosen badge and burden, and not to
 stand cavilling at it. This night Jesus bids you submit your
 shoulder to his easy yoke. Do not kick at it in petulance, or
 trample on it in vain-glory, or fall under it in despair, or run
 away from it in fear, but take it up like a true follower of
 Jesus. Jesus was a cross-bearer; he leads the way in the path of
 sorrow. Surely you could not desire a better guide! And if he
 carried a cross, what nobler burden would you desire? The \\Via\\
 \\Crucis\\ is the way of safety; fear not to tread its thorny
 paths.

    Beloved, the cross is not made of feathers, or lined with
 velvet, it is heavy and galling to disobedient shoulders; but it
 is not an iron cross, though your fears have painted it with
 iron colours, it is a wooden cross, and a man can carry it, for
 the Man of sorrows tried the load. Take up your cross, and by
 the power of the Spirit of God you will soon be so in love with
 it, that like Moses, you would not exchange the reproach of
 Christ for all the treasures of Egypt. Remember that Jesus
 carried it, and it will smell sweetly; remember that it will
 soon be followed by the crown, and the thought of the coming
 weight of glory will greatly lighten the present heaviness of
 trouble. The Lord help you to bow your spirit in submission to
 the divine will ere you fall asleep this night, that waking with
 to-morrow's sun, you may go forth to the day's cross with the
 holy and submissive spirit which becomes a follower of the
 Crucified.

27959
 February 24                                              Evening

 \\"O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy upon\\
 \\Jerusalem? ... And the Lord answered the angel ... with\\
 \\good words and comfortable words."\\
                                              --Zechariah 1:12,13

    What a sweet answer to an anxious enquiry! This night let us
 rejoice in it. O Zion, there are good things in store for thee;
 thy time of travail shall soon be over; thy children shall be
 brought forth; thy captivity shall end. Bear patiently the rod
 for a season, and under the darkness still trust in God, for his
 love burneth towards thee. God loves the church with a love too
 deep for human imagination: he loves her with all his infinite
 heart. Therefore let her sons be of good courage; she cannot be
 far from prosperity to whom God speaketh "good words and
 comfortable words." What these comfortable words are the prophet
 goes on to tell us: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion
 with a great jealousy." The Lord loves his church so much that
 he cannot bear that she should go astray to others; and when she
 has done so, he cannot endure that she should suffer too much or
 too heavily. He will not have his enemies afflict her: he is
 displeased with them because they increase her misery. When God
 seems most to leave his church, his heart is warm towards her.
 History shows that whenever God uses a rod to chasten his
 servants, he always breaks it afterwards, as if he loathed the
 rod which gave his children pain. "Like as a father pitieth his
 children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." God hath not
 forgotten us because he smites--his blows are no evidences of
 want of love. If this is true of his church \\collectively\\, it
 is of necessity true also of \\each individual member\\. You may
 fear that the Lord has passed you by, but it is not so: he who
 counts the stars, and calls them by their names, is in no danger
 of forgetting his own children. He knows your case as thoroughly
 as if you were the only creature he ever made, or the only saint
 he ever loved. Approach him and be at peace.

27960
 February 25                                              Evening

 \\"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of\\
 \\the Lord, and went down to Joppa."\\
                                                      --Jonah 1:3

    Instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God bade
 him, Jonah disliked the work, and went down to Joppa to escape
 from it. There are occasions when God's servants shrink from
 duty. But what is the consequence? What did Jonah lose by his
 conduct? \\He lost the presence and comfortable enjoyment of\\
 \\God's love\\. When we serve our Lord Jesus as believers should
 do, our God is with us; and though we have the whole world
 against us, if we have God with us, what does it matter? But the
 moment we start back, and seek our own inventions, we are at sea
 without a pilot. Then may we bitterly lament and groan out, "O
 my God, where hast thou gone? How could I have been so foolish
 as to shun thy service, and in this way to lose all the bright
 shinings of thy face? This is a price too high. Let me return to
 my allegiance, that I may rejoice in thy presence." In the next
 place, Jonah \\lost all peace of mind\\. Sin soon destroys a
 believer's comfort. It is the poisonous upas tree, from whose
 leaves distil deadly drops which destroy the life of joy and
 peace. Jonah \\lost everything upon which he might have drawn\\
 \\for comfort in any other case\\. He could not plead the
 promise of divine protection, for he was not in God's ways; he
 could not say, "Lord, I meet with these difficulties in the
 discharge of my duty, therefore help me through them." He was
 reaping his own deeds; he was filled with his own ways.
 Christian, do not play the Jonah, unless you wish to have all
 the waves and the billows rolling over your head. You will find
 in the long run that it is far harder to shun the work and will
 of God than to at once yield yourself to it. \\Jonah lost his\\
 \\time\\, for he had to go to Nineveh after all. It is hard to
 contend with God; let us yield ourselves at once.
27961
 February 26                                              Evening

 \\"Behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall\\
 \\pronounce him clean that hath the plague."\\
                                                --Leviticus 13:13

    Strange enough this regulation appears, yet there was wisdom
 in it, for the throwing out of the disease proved that the
 constitution was sound. This evening it may be well for us to
 see the typical teaching of so singular a rule. We, too, are
 lepers, and may read the law of the leper as applicable to
 ourselves. When a man sees himself to be altogether lost and
 ruined, covered all over with the defilement of sin, and in no
 part free from pollution; when he disclaims all righteousness of
 his own, and pleads guilty before the Lord, then he is clean
 through the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God. Hidden,
 unfelt, unconfessed iniquity is the true leprosy; but when sin
 is seen and felt, it has received its deathblow, and the Lord
 looks with eyes of mercy upon the soul afflicted with it.
 Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness, or more hopeful
 than contrition. We must confess that we are "nothing else but
 sin," for no confession short of this will be the whole truth;
 and if the Holy Spirit be at work with us, convincing us of sin,
 there will be no difficulty about making such an acknowledgment
 --it will spring spontaneously from our lips. What comfort does
 the text afford to truly awakened sinners: the very circumstance
 which so grievously discouraged them is here turned into a sign
 and symptom of a hopeful state! Stripping comes before
 clothing; digging out the foundation is the first thing in
 building--and a thorough sense of sin is one of the earliest
 works of grace in the heart. O thou poor leprous sinner,
 utterly destitute of a sound spot, take heart from the text, and
 come as thou art to Jesus--

 "For let our debts be what they may, however great or small,
 As soon as we have nought to pay, our Lord forgives us all.
 'Tis perfect poverty alone that sets the soul at large:
 While we can call one mite our own, we have no full discharge."

27962
 February 27                                              Evening

 \\"Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting\\
                                                      --Micah 5:2

    The Lord Jesus had goings forth for his people \\as their\\
 \\representative before the throne, long before they appeared\\
 \\upon the stage of time\\. It was "from everlasting" that he
 signed the compact with his Father, that he would pay blood for
 blood, suffering for suffering, agony for agony, and death for
 death, in the behalf of his people; it was "from everlasting"
 that he gave himself up without a murmuring word. That from the
 crown of his head to the sole of his foot he might sweat great
 drops of blood, that he might be spit upon, pierced, mocked,
 rent asunder, and crushed beneath the pains of death. His goings
 forth as our Surety were from everlasting. Pause, my soul, and
 wonder! Thou hast goings forth in the person of Jesus "from
 everlasting." Not only when thou wast born into the world did
 Christ love thee, but his delights were with the sons of men
 before there were any sons of men. Often did he think of them;
 from everlasting to everlasting he had set his affection upon
 them. What! my soul, has he been so long about thy salvation,
 and will not he accomplish it? Has he from everlasting been
 going forth to save me, and will he lose me now? What! Has he
 carried me in his hand, as his precious jewel, and will he now
 let me slip from between his fingers? Did he choose me before
 the mountains were brought forth, or the channels of the deep
 were digged, and will he reject me now? Impossible! I am sure he
 would not have loved me so long if he had not been a changeless
 Lover. If he could grow weary of me, he would have been tired of
 me long before now. If he had not loved me with a love as deep
 as hell, and as strong as death, he would have turned from me
 long ago. Oh, joy above all joys, to know that I am his
 everlasting and inalienable inheritance, given to him by his
 Father or ever the earth was! Everlasting love shall be the
 pillow for my head this night.

27963
 February 28                                              Evening

 \\"The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil\\
 \\fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by\\
 \\Elijah."\\
                                                  --1 Kings 17:16

    See the faithfulness of divine love. You observe that this
 woman had daily necessities. She had herself and her son to feed
 in a time of famine; and now, in addition, the prophet Elijah
 was to be fed too. But though the need was threefold, yet the
 supply of meal wasted not, for she had a \\constant supply\\.
 Each day she made calls upon the barrel, but yet each day it
 remained the same. You, dear reader, have daily necessities, and
 because they come so frequently, you are apt to fear that the
 barrel of meal will one day be empty, and the cruse of oil will
 fail you. Rest assured that, according to the Word of God, this
 shall not be the case. Each day, though it bring its trouble,
 shall bring its help; and though you should live to outnumber
 the years of Methuselah, and though your needs should be as many
 as the sands of the seashore, yet shall God's grace and mercy
 last through all your necessities, and you shall never know a
 real lack. For three long years, in this widow's days, the
 heavens never saw a cloud, and the stars never wept a holy tear
 of dew upon the wicked earth: famine, and desolation, and death,
 made the land a howling wilderness, but this woman never was
 hungry, but always joyful in abundance. So shall it be with you.
 You shall see the sinner's hope perish, for he trusts his native
 strength; you shall see the proud Pharisee's confidence totter,
 for he builds his hope upon the sand; you shall see even your
 own schemes blasted and withered, but you yourself shall find
 that your place of defence shall be the munition of rocks: "Your
 bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure." Better
 have God for your guardian, than the Bank of England for your
 possession. You might spend the wealth of the Indies, but the
 infinite riches of God you can never exhaust.

27964
 February 29                                              Evening

 \\"Now we have received ... the spirit which is of God; that\\
 \\we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."\\
                                             --1 Corinthians 2:12

    Dear reader, have you received the spirit which is of God,
 wrought by the Holy Ghost in your soul? The necessity of the
 work of the Holy Spirit in the heart may be clearly seen from
 this fact, that \\all which has been done by God the Father, and\\
 \\by God the Son, must be ineffectual to us, unless the Spirit\\
 \\shall reveal these things to our souls\\. What effect does the
 doctrine of election have upon any man until the Spirit of God
 enters into him? Election is a dead letter in my consciousness
 until the Spirit of God calls me out of darkness into marvellous
 light. \\Then\\ through my calling, I see my election, and
 knowing myself to be called of God, I know myself to have been
 chosen in the eternal purpose. A covenant was made with the Lord
 Jesus Christ, by his Father; but what avails that covenant to us
 until the Holy Spirit brings us its blessings, and opens our
 hearts to receive them? There hang the blessings on the
 nail--Christ Jesus; but being short of stature, we cannot reach
 them; the Spirit of God takes them down and hands them to us,
 and thus they become actually ours. Covenant blessings in
 themselves are like the manna in the skies, far out of mortal
 reach, but the Spirit of God opens the windows of heaven and
 scatters the living bread around the camp of the spiritual
 Israel. Christ's finished work is like wine stored in the
 wine-vat; through unbelief we can neither draw nor drink. The
 Holy Spirit dips our vessel into this precious wine, and then we
 drink; but without the Spirit we are as truly dead in sin as
 though the Father never had elected, and though the Son had
 never bought us with his blood. The Holy Spirit is absolutely
 necessary to our well-being. Let us walk lovingly towards him
 and tremble at the thought of grieving him.
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