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SCRIPTURE BIOGRAPHY.

SETH.

BORN A. M. 130. DIED A. M. 1042. AGED 912 YEARS.

SETH, the son of Adam, was the second in order of the antediluvian patriarchs. He was the first-born after the murder of Abel, and granted in mercy to his parents, to be an eminent supporter of religion in the enlargement of the church of God. When Eve became the mother of this promising child, she called his name Seth: "For God," said she, "hath appointed me another seed, instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." Gen. iv, 25. By her speaking in this manner, it seems that Eve regarded him as the deliverer promised by the LORD, and that by him they should regain a place in Paradise.

Seth signifies settled, or placed; and this name appears to have been by a prophetic spirit; because in his seed mankind should continue to the end of time, and from him the Messiah should descend. While Cain, the head of the apostacy, is made a wanderer, Seth, from whom the true church was to come, was fixed; and in his family, godliness remarkably flourished.

"And to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos; then began men to call upon the name of the LORD," ver. 26.

The birth of Enos was in the two hundred and thirtyfifth year of Adam's life; at which time, it appears, there was a happy revival of religion. "Those who served God and those who served him not" were distinguished before that time, as we see in the difference between Cain and Abel: but then, about the period that Enos was born, the sincere worshippers of God, by faith in his gracious promises, began to stir up themselves to manifest their belief in the Divine word, by a more regular observation of public worship in solemn assemblies.

The defection from godliness appearing more confirmed in the family of Cain, Seth and his family took measures for the more effectual establishment and advancement of religion among themselves, lest they should be corrupted by those evil examples of infidelity and profaneness.

The marginal reading of the passage deserves particular notice, as that gives the literal meaning of the Hebrew words, and affords us the true idea in a more extended point of view. "Then began men to be called by the name of the LORD." While Cain and his children were fortifying themselves in their newlyerected city, boasting of their greatness as the " sons of men," Seth and his children, avowing more decidedly their adherence to the service of their Creator, and their hope in his revealed mercy and salvation, called themselvss the "sons of God." Thus began the significant distinction, which has ever since been preserved between the professors and the profane. That difference still exists; and it will continue, till the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea;" or even to the awful judgment day of God, when we shall clearly "discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." Mal. iii, 18.

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Seth, it is believed, continued through life a firm believer and a devoted man of God, though the inspired historian has recorded no particulars concerning him, except his death and age. "And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died." Gen. v, 8.

May all our young readers especially be numbered with the sons of God in this world, and bear the holy image of the Saviour on their hearts. May they be

"the living epistles of Christ, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart, being known and read of all men," 2 Cor. iii, 2, 3; and at length shine with their blessed Lord in everlasting honour and glory.

ON A CHILD.

To the memory of EMMA, only daughter of JOHN HEALD, Esq. who died July, 8, 1832: her mother deceased in childbirth some years before.

Home to thy mother, little one!
This world hath strife and care
Too grievous for a form so soft
And frail as thou to bear.
Home to thy grave! a happy home
For those who shrink from grief to come.
Repose thy little head by hers,
Who did not live to see

The opening bloom, the smiles, the tears
Of thy sweet infancy.

Home to the grave! a sacred home
For those who shrink from guilt to come!
Tell her what bitter tears were shed
Upon thy cradled face;
Tell her what yearning looks were spent,
Her smiles in thine to trace;
Tell her what anguish seem'd to come,
When she forsook her mortal home!

Tell her what tender watchfulness

Thy baby cares beguil'd;
Tell her that those she left behind
Still lov'd her in her child;
And that thou hadst a happy home,
Ere summon'd to the life to come!

Tell her thy guiltless soul returns
As pure to heaven and her,
As when amid the tempest's rage,

A dove-like messenger,
From brighter lands it seem'd to come,
To call her gentle spirit home!

Home! sweet one, home! a radiant crown
Shall twine thy sinless brow;

A father's arms have held thee here,—
A mother's wait thee now.

A mother's arms! ah, happy home!
Ah, happy summons! "Sweet one, come!"

ANECDOTE OF MR. BEDDOME.

THE late venerable Mr. Beddome, minister of the Baptist Church at Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire, being on a journey, stopped at an inn at Wotton Basset, a small town in Wiltshire, where he was quite a stranger, to take refreshment. A widow woman who then kept the house, concluding from his appearance that he was a clergyman of the Establishment, anxious to please her guest, said, after serving him obligingly with every thing he called for, "Sir, the inhabitants of this place are a very happy people." I am glad of that," said Mr. B.; "but for what reason are they so happy?" added he. "Why, Sir," answered his hostess, we have but one Dissenter in the town, and he is a Roman Catholic; and you know, Sir, they are the best of them!" The good man, not willing to confound her, pleasantly passed off the matter, without making himself known.

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Letters to a Mother, upon Education.

LETTER I.

Dear Madam; It is with much pleasure that I comply with your request, to offer you some advice respecting the education of that child, of which you have recently become the mother. In addition to solicitude for your happiness as a friend, I feel intense interest in the subject of education generally; and any peculiar earnestness in my language, or copiousness in my suggestions, which you may observe, you will I trust ascribe to the operation of these feelings.

I shall not hesitate to descend occasionally into very minute detail; and with the greater confidence, since I have the pleasure of believing, that you have long ago known that the greatest consequences often spring from apparently insignificant causes, and that mankind are indebted both for their character and happiness to the influence rather of little than of extraordinary cir

cumstances.

I am glad too, that as you expect advantage from my remarks, you have applied for them so early, being of opinion that the great error in education generally is that it begins too late, and that the treatment of a child is of great importance to its future happiness, even while it is generally regarded as little more than an animated being.

The term education will be used by me in a far more extended sense than it usually obtains; and instead of restricting it to certain species of knowledge only, communicated at a certain period, it may be better understood as applicable to the entire process of educing all those powers and qualities of human nature, upon the exercise and regulation of which mankind depend for ensuring the ends the Creator intended them to serve, and for attaining that measure of happiness which he wills them to enjoy.

A due regard to those original qualities of human nature, which it is the office of education to cultivate, induces me to distribute my observations under the several particulars of physical, moral, intellectual, and religious education. Under these four principal particulars a variety of topics range themselves, upon each of which I hope to devote a letter.

Should any of these observations appear to you of an unusual character, you will not regard them as less worthy of attention on that account, since you are aware that there are no principles of conduct, which, however confidently now received, did not present themselves to some former generation under the aspect of novelty. The only just recommendation of any rules of conduct that may be proposed is, not their antiquity, or their having been already adopted, but their agreement with the perceptions of an enlightened judgment.

Neither will you feel any difficulty arising from the circumstance, that my observations professedly aim at what I deem the most perfect system of education, since with no propriety could any person propose a defective standard for adoption. It is always of im portance to aim at perfection, since although we shall assuredly fall short of it, we shall nevertheless attain a higher degree of excellence than if we had chosen an inferior standard.

The experience and observation of every day may convince us, that when the hearts of mankind are really interested in any object, and when they adopt right methods in the pursuit of it, they attain more than even their most sanguine expectations might have dictated, and so much as absolutely to amaze the indolent or desponding. You have the most powerful motive for activity and hope. You doubtless feel how vast a charge is confided to your keeping. A member of

society is consigned to your care, whose good or evil conduct will hereafter affect multitudes of human beings, and whose immediate influence on society will be propagated, and extend and widen till the termination of the world. An heir of immortality is confided to your training, and you are no doubt convinced that his happiness through eternity is naturally associated with the direction which his mind will receive through your instructions. He will, indeed, as he grows up into life, come under the influence of many different persons, all standing in different relations to him more or less remote. Those persons will all be answerable for the effect which their conduct may have upon his conduct and happiness; but the influence of a parent being more immediate, more powerful, more constant than that of any, or of all other beings, renders the parent the most responsible being in the universe for the welfare of his child to his own conscience, to society, to the child himself, and to his Creator. But though you may feel the weight of your responsibility, you will not suffer it to overwhelm you, SO as to dishearten or diminish your efforts. Yours will be the pleasing recollection, that in endeavouring to educate your child you are attempting a duty in which you may confidently expect the gracious assistance of God. Should it be his will that your child should be early removed from you, you will have the consolatory reflection that you had assiduously laboured to prepare him for the presence of his Redeemer. Should you witness him arrived to manhood, yours will be the happy consciousness that you have bequeathed a most valuable blessing to society-a well-educated child, prepared in his turn to become a happy, useful parent, transmitting to his children and to all around him the benefits of the good instructions he had received at your hands.

That this happy privilege may be yours, is the sincere wish of your, &c.

PSALM XV, 15.

"My times are in thy hand."

CLERICUS.

Since, O my Father! in thy hands
Is my appointed way;
Teach me to keep thy blest commands,
And make thy love my stay.
Thy precept bids my spirit trust
The Lord Jehovah's might;
And tells me, though a child of dust,
To triumph in his sight.

Thy love, through every varied scene
Of life, shall still extend;

Shali crown with blessings all between,
And glory at the end.

For if I die! my soul with God
Eternally shall be:

And whilst I live-Oh, blessed thought!-
Then God shall be with me.

S. F. W.

WIT EMPLOYED FOR RELIGION. THE late eminent Mr. Bradbury, when preaching one day in Salter's Hall, London, upon the Divinity of Christ, was hissed at by several present. The good man's friends were affected with such daring insolence, and afterwards expressed their sorrow to Mr. Bradbury; to which he ingeniously replied, "I have been bruising the head of the old serpent, and no wonder you heard the hisses of the generation of vipers." It is well when wit can be employed in the service of religion.

SCENERY OF THE NILE. AT Beni Hassan, on the banks of the Nile, is a range of ancient Egyptian temples, literally excavated out of the solid rock. We counted twenty-six: some of them are of considerable dimensions, and communicate with each other in a strangely romantic and mysterious manner. The walls are covered with paintings and hieroglyphics, the colours of which were very vivid. The prospect from the interior of the principal temple, through the massy pillars of the portico, was singular and magnificent. The setting sun cast a flood of golden radiance on the fertile plain beneath and its boundary hills. Far as the eye could reach, the windings and meanderings of the Nile were distinctly visible, with a solitary white sail gliding on its peaceful bosom. The wild air of our Arab attendants seen amid the gloom, stealing cautiously along the ruins, now lost in the darkness of the caverns, then emerging into light, the occasional flash of fire arms, the hollow echoes that reverberated around, together with the noble chambers and the fallen pillars, all combined to make the scene highly impressive. In imagination we flew back some thousand years, when these temples were first excavated in honour of false deities, the likeness of things in heaven, of things in earth, and of things under the earth."

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We then thought of the saintly fathers of the desert, who among these fallen fanes and forsaken shrines, in the early ages of Christianity, retired hither from the temptations and persecutions of a heathen world, to serve the only true God in solitude and peace. The evening was lovely, as indeed they almost ever are in Egypt; when after a sultry and oppressive day, a cool and refreshing breeze springs up, and the air assumes a peculiar purity, which is unknown to our northern climes.

"In the still hour to musing dear,"

when the daylight gradually faded into a softened twilight, there was something very delightful in gliding on the surface of this vast river, abandoning the mind to all the soft reveries of fancy, the past, the present, and the future all melting in one bright chaos: Oriental scenery and European imagination combining to form a fairy scene of enchantinent.

How many interesting reminiscences are connected with the Nile! By its waters have wandered the steps of the patriarchs Abraham and Moses, and it has been the witness and the subject of the numerous miracles which were wrought when "the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. Though Persian, Grecian, Roman, Saracenic, and Turkish potentates have in turn held sway over the devoted land, on which the awful voice of prophecy has uttered such dreadful denunciations of woe and vengeance, yet still onward flows the majestic stream, undisturbed by the flight of time, or the ruin of dynasties, or the fall of empires.- Mrs. Elwood.

ON WEARING A HORN.

THE most remarkable feature in the costume of the Maronite women (a race of people dwelling in Assyria) is the tantoora, perhaps the most singular head-dress in the world. This is a long silver or wooden horn, about twelve or fourteen inches in length, shaped something like a speaking trumpet, and projecting upward from the forehead. Over this unicorn-looking instrument a veil is thrown, which, closing across the face, and falling down the shoulders behind, has not altogether an ungraceful appearance. The wives and daughters of the Emirs and great Sheiks have the tantoora richly gilt, and in some instances embossed.

This singular custom may be traced to very remote antiquity. The lifting up of horns is a common figure of speech in the scriptures. "Lift not up your horn on high, speak not with a stiff neck.-All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. Psalm 1xxv, 5, 10.

In Abyssinia the men wear two horns, or tantooras; and I have heard, that upon a coin commemorative of Alexander the Great's visit, either to the high priest of Jerusalem or the high priest of Jupiter Ammon in the Libyan desert, the Macedonian king is represented as wearing two horns. He was commonly styled in the figurative language of prophecy, "hin of the two horns;" whereby some commentators suppose to be meant the horns of the crescent, and others the horns of the Eastern and Western world, but which probably have reference to the circumstance of his wearing two horns, or tantooras.

Also the statue of Moses by Michael Angelo, upon the Quirinal Hill at Rome, represents the prophet as wearing two horns.- Frankland's Travels.

A MOTHER'S GIFT-A BIBLE.
Remember, love, who gave thee this,
When other days shall come;
When she, who had thy earliest kiss,
Sleeps in her narrow home.
Remember, 'twas a Mother gave
The gift to one she'd die to save.
That Mother sought a pledge of love
The holiest for her son;
And from the gifts of God above,
She chose a goodly one:
She chose for her beloved boy,
The source of light, and life, and joy.

She bids him keep the gift, that when
The parting hour shall come,
They may have hope to meet again,
In an eternal home:

His cordial faith in that will be
Sweet incense to her memory.

But should the scoffer, in his pride,
Laugh that firm faith to scorn,
And bid him cast the pledge aside,

That he from youth has borne,
She bids him pause, and ask his breast,
If she, or he, has lov'd him best.
A parent's blessing on her son

Goes with this holy thing:
The love that would retain the one,
Must to the other cling.
Remember, 'tis no trifling toy;
A Mother's gift to her dear boy.

PROFANITY REPROVED WITH MEEKNESS OF

WISDOM.

DR. GIFFORD, as he was one day showing the British Museum to strangers, was very much vexed by the profane conversation of a young gentleman who was present. The doctor, taking an ancient copy of the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, and showing it to him-"O!" said the gentleman, 1 can read this." "Well," said the doctor, "read that passage," pointing to the third commandment. The gentleman was so struck, that he immediately desisted from swearing.

THE LILY. LILY is expressed by the term Shushan in Hebrew, which denotes light; and is said to have its name from the property it possesses, of reflecting light. One of the capital cities in Persia is named Shushan, from the abundance of lilies of a beautiful kind which grow in its neighbourhood. They were common in Judea, and grew in the open fields.

The amaryllis lutea, a plant of the lilaceous tribe, and which is thought to be noticed in Scripture, is singularly beautiful. The corolla is bell-shaped, and tubular at the base. Its flowers seldom rise above three or four inches high. The shape in some degree resembles that of the large yellow crocus, giving to the fields of the Levant, where they grow in profusion, a bright and dazzling appearance. In our own country the genus is exotic in its origin. If it be of spontaneous growth in some of the southern parts of Europe, it appears there but with a secondary splendour; in its full pomp and perfection it is only to be found in regions near or within the tropics. In his voyage to Abyssinia, Mr. Salt discovered a new and beautiful species of amaryllis, which bore from ten to twelve spikes on each stem, springing from one common receptacle; the general colour of the corolla was white, and every petal had a single streak of purple down the middle. It was sweet-scented, and its smell, though more powerful, resembled that of the "lily of the valley!" This latter plant (convallaria majalis) is well known by its snow-white drooping flowers, and the delicate odour which they emit.

"Scatter'd wild, the lily of the vale
Its balmy essence breathes."

The crown imperial (fritillaria imperialis), of the same class and order as the lily, and to which no doubt specific reference is made in Scripture, claims a portion of our attention. The flowers of this beautiful plant (which form a circle round the stem, disposed in the manner of a crown) are pendulous, and frequently of a bright red colour. The white glandular cavity of each petal is filled with a clear nectareous juice, resembling a pearl, which gradually distils pure drops of water.

The pancratium sol illyricum, cultivated in Alexandria, has been supposed to be the lily of the Jews, or "white lily," as the latter bears a striking resemblance to it in purity of colour. This plant excels the common lily; but as it is only known as a garden plant, its pretensions to be the lily of Scripture are very questionable.

There is a species of water lily, named Lotus, mentioned by Van Egmont, growing in Lower Egypt, and even in the Nile, not far from its influx into the Mediterranean, and by the inhabitants called Bashim. "Its leaves," to use his language, "float on the surface of the water; and it produces great numbers of flowers, which were anciently used in forming garlands for victors. This plant the ancient Egyptians considered as an emblem of Osiris, and particularly of the sun, having not only the form of that luminary, but attending upon it. It lies under water during its absence, but rises above the surface as soon as it appears."Scripture Garden Walk.

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teachers of Christianity, in a necessary condescension to the prejudice and ignorance of the multitude, collected their audience in places rendered fancifully sacred by these heathen erections; but changed the stone from a pagan to a Christian symbol, by carving on it the figure of the cross. As a knowledge of the arts increased, a progressive degree of elegance was bestowed on these emblematical pillars; the hand of pious taste was applied to the sculpture, and a variety of ornament was bestowed, in augmentation of the attractive character of the sacred memorial.

These crosses appear to have been erected occasionally for the purpose of boundary marks; but in most cases they are owing to the great incitement they presented in regard to devotional feelings. In many places they were endowed with a privilege of sanctuary, but that does not appear to have been the custom in this country.

Crosses also of sepulchral memorial appear to have been extremely frequent, and perhaps constituted the earliest Christian monument in honour of the dead. A cross was also often erected near the entrance of a church, to excite solemn emotions in the minds of those who approached the sacred pile. Battles and disastrous events were often commemorated by a cross raised upon the spot.

In past ages the cross was considered a necessary appendage to the market-place, acting as an emphatic warning against dishonest practices; and from steps surrounding its base, the assembly were sometimes harangued by the inmates of adjacent religious institutions. The general intent of market crosses," observes Dr. Milner, 66 was to excite public homage to the religion of Christ crucified, and to inspire men with a sense of morality and piety in the ordinary transactions of life.”

There still remain many beautiful architectural specimens of this kind in England, but a greatly superior number are to be met with in Ireland, some of them extremely rude, and in the last stage of decay; while others display a peculiar richness of sculpture, a plenitude of decorations, with fanciful devices and storied passages of Scripture, which exhibit an inconceivable degree of beauty when mellowed by the lenient touch of Time.

PROPOSAL TO ALEXANDER THE GREAT. STASICRATES, a great architect, in a conversation with Alexander the Great, told him, that of all the mountains he knew, none would so well admit of being cut into the shape of a man, as Mount Athos in Thrace: that if he therefore pleased to give orders, he would make this mountain the most durable of all statues, and that which would lie most open to the view of the universe. In its left hand it should hold a city, consisting of ten thousand inhabitants; and from its right should pour a great river, whose waters would discharge themselves into the sea. One would have thought that this project would have pleased Alexander, who sought for the great and marvellous in all things; nevertheless, he rejected it, and wisely answered, that it was enough that there already was one prince, whose folly Mount Athos would eternize. This was meant of Xerxes, who, having endeavoured to cut through the isthmus of that mountain, wrote a letter to it in these most proud and senseless terms: "Proud Athos, who liftest thy head to heaven, be not so bold as to oppose to my workmen such rocks and stones as they cannot cut; otherwise I will cut thee quite to pieces, and throw thee into the sea." "With regard to myself," says Alexander, "Mount Caucasus, the river Tanais, the Caspian Sea, all which I passed in triumph, shall be my monument." - Rollin.

ON THE ALTAR PIECE AT ST. BRIDE'S CHURCH.

Written after viewing it on a fine Sabbath Evening in
Summer.

What are my feelings, Son of God!
When I behold thy flowing blood,
As the last nail is drawn away,

And nerveless drops that arm of clay!
That arm was nail'd against the tree,
That rich blood flow'd in streams for me.
Behold! the setting sun retire,
He tips the distant hills with fire.
Never before, since time begun,
And he his annual course had run,
Never such deed of blood was done :
Couldst thou look on it, glorious sun?
Ah, no! he had retir'd in gloom,
And midnight darkness reigned at noon.
The graves had open'd at that hour:
Earth shook beneath Almighty power:
The sacred vail in twain was torn :
The rocks had rent that dreadful morn.
Th' astonish'd crowd had now gone home,
The faithful few were left alone,
And had with tender care remov'd,
The cold remains of him they lov'd,
And soon within the silent grave

Must rest the form they could not save.
But there is one, absorb'd in grief,
Whose anguish'd heart finds no relief;
Whose bosom answer'd groan for groau;
The dying sufferer was her own!-

Her own!-and sure a mother's woe,
None but a mother e'er can know.
Behold the Roman captain stand
With his fierce legion near at hand!
What can those soldiers have to fear,
The few weak women loitering near,
Bathing with tears each bleeding limb
While all their brightest hopes grow dim?
Yes, guards of Rome! ye well may fear,
Not Cæsar's self could triumph here;
The King of kings shall burst the tomb,

And as a mighty conqueror come!

God over all! (though prostrate now)

To whom both heaven and earth must bow.

THE GODDESS TEOYAMIQUI,

A MEXICAN IDOL.

S. H.

THIS colossal and horrible monster is hewn out of one solid block of basalt, nine feet high. Its outlines give an idea of a deformed human figure, uniting all that is horrible in the tiger and the rattle-snake: instead of arms, it is supplied with two large serpents; and its drapery is composed of wreathed snakes, interwoven in the most disgusting manner, and the sides terminating in the wings of a vulture. Its feet are those of the tiger, with claws extended in the act of seizing its prey; and between them lies the head of another rattlesnake, which seems descending from the body of the idol. Its decorations accord with its horrid form, having a large necklace composed of human hearts, hands, and skulls, and fastened together by the entrails, the deformed breasts of the idel only remaining uncovered. It has evidently been painted in natural colours, which must have added greatly to the terrible effect it was intended to inspire in its votaries."Bullock,

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We should be wanting in our duty to our readers, to the religious public, and to ourselves, if we did not notice the valuable publication before us. Our limits will not allow us to enter upon elaborate criticism, but thus much we may say it is impartial in its statements; striking in its selection of facts; while the general pithiness of its style cannot fail to recommend it to those, who wish to possess the marrow of Church History in a small compass. In short, it is the most useful compendium we have seen, and particularly suitable to be used as an introductory book to a course of Ecclesiastical History; at the same time affording a considerable fund of information for those who have no other opportunity of acquiring such knowledge.

The Author says in his preface," that he is not conscious of having written a single sentence in the spirit of party, or a line on which he cannot continue to implore the Divine benediction;" and we must bear our willing testimony, that bigotry never can be charged upon him, nor a single paragraph be made to speak its language.

We particularly call the attention of the instructors of youth to this work, and sincerely hope it will be speedily put into the hands of young people. It ought to be introduced into every Sunday School library in the kingdom. The price is only 78.

WISDOM IN A FOOL.

A Baronet of the last century, whose mansion was in Yorkshire, was supposed to be dead; when the following conversation took place between his jester, or fool, and his servants.

Serv. Our master is gone!

Fool. Ah! whither is he gone?

Serv. To Heaven, to be sure.

Fool. To Heaven! no, that he is not, I am certain. Serv. Why so?

Fool. Why? because Heaven is a great way off; and when my master was going a long journey, he used, for some time, to talk about it, and prepare for it; but I never heard him speak of Heaven, or saw him make any preparations for going; he cannot, therefore, be gone thither.

The Baronet, however, recovered; and this conversation being told him, he was so struck with it, that he immediately began to prepare for his journey to that country "from whose bourn no traveller returns."

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