Readings on 1st and 2nd Peter
Table of Contents
Reading on 1 Peter 1:3-14: Part 1
The Christian's portion, as a Christian, is beyond the reach of death because it is in resurrection. "Hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." What is in resurrection is beyond the reach of death. The resurrection of Christ is a wondrous truth and it is viewed from different standpoints. First of all, perhaps, it is the evidence of God's acceptance of His work of atonement (5th of Romans).
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God." (Vs. 18-21.)
There is nothing sparse or meager about the truth of Christianity-the truth of the gospel.
The Lord says, at the end of the first of Revelation, "I am the living one and become dead; and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of death and hades." What is that? You can't get beyond the reach of His power. Suppose you die and go into death. He has the keys. All that are in their graves, one of these days, shall hear His voice. "The keys of death and hades." They crucified their own Messiah and their own hopes. All centered in Christ.
Now God comes in, raises Christ from the dead, and now there is a living hope-a Christ that will never die again. "I am alive forevermore," and in that life the believer is associated with Christ. Nothing meager about that, is there? Associated with Christ in resurrection life. They lost it once when they crucified Christ.
“Begotten us again to a living hope." We have that word "living" in the next chapter, 5th verse. "Living stone" is Christ-"living stones" His people. A living temple, formed of living stones, founded on the Living Stone.
Now, you see, one thing the Church of God (when I say "Church of God" I mean all true Christians) one thing they have to contend for is the truth that Christ rose from the dead-that He is a living man-the Man that was dead, and is alive for evermore. The resurrection of Christ is the great foundation of Christianity. "If Christ be not raised ye are yet in your sins." That is a strong statement. What did the resurrection of Christ have to do with our sins? Nothing at all, but it shows God accepted what He did in death. Suppose He still lay in the grave. Is it a proof that God accepted His work? He has been taken out of it. That line of things is brought before us in "hath begotten us again unto a living hope"-a hope that death can't touch.
That comes out very beautifully, in the 11Th of Hebrews. "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh." "By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”
There you get the Christian's position. Justification by faith in the work of Christ acceptance of God-God's testimony to it in accepting Christ-"God testifying of His gifts." Enoch's testimony was, not that he was righteous, but that he pleased God. That is another thing. He walked in this world, knowing that he might be taken to heaven any minute without dying. Enoch knew he had a life that death had no claim upon. "By faith Enoch was translated.”
Just so with the believer-the believer as a believer. The life he has as a Christian, is a life upon which death has no claim. It is in resurrection, and he may never die. If we do, death comes in by the way, and is not an abiding state. If we die, we shall be raised like the Lord, and because He was raised. That is the argument in one way in 2 Cor. 4:14. If God raised Jesus, He will raise you too. That is, God wouldn't take the Shepherd out of death, and leave the sheep. He raised the Shepherd, and will raise the sheep. Association with Christ in life is a wonderful truth. "Begotten us again.”
Then He gives us "An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.
Where is all the glory of Solomon's kingdom? It was the wonder of the world at that time.
His fame was spread abroad. The Queen of the South came all that way, it says, "from the ends of the earth" when she heard of his fame. She came to see if it were true. She didn't believe it. Now, she says, "I do believe. I thought they made too much of it." Where is it all gone? All faded away.
Of course it was a type of the true Solomon reigning by and by, when the earth will be filled with His glory, and His name shall be great to the ends of the earth and so on. But Solomon's kingdom has passed away. And that kingdom to come will pass away too in time, not like Solomon's exactly, but it will pass away.
That inheritance incorruptible (can't be corrupted), and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, where is it? (That is what it is.) Where is it? In heaven.
Here the apostle says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again." Paul says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Eph. 1:3. The Christian's blessings are spiritual, heavenly, and eternal. As to his present circumstances, he is like other people. He has not entered into his inheritance yet. That is in heaven.
In the meantime-"kept by the power of God." The inheritance, nothing can corrupt or defile it and so on. It is up there, and we are here. God is taking care of the inheritance, and taking care of us.
We find the same thing, practically, in the first part of the 5th chapter of 2 Cor.: "Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God.”
What he was speaking of was resurrection glory the Christian is heir to. So here. God has begotten us to this inheritance. We are heirs to it, and while away from it, He preserves us by His power by using moral means. "Kept by the power of God through faith." God brings faith into exercise.
“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations." That is God's way of keeping us. He does not let us go on our own way and take us up to heaven at last. He disciplines us. He does not like us to go on like unbroken colts.
“Kept by the power of God through faith," and the children of God are the objects of God's care in this way. And if "need be"-in heaviness. We have many trials, and God sees it needful to give us seasons of heaviness. He sees a "need be" for it. We sometimes wonder why it is, but there is a 'need be" for it, and it is well for us to consider and know there is a "need be." It is that which humbles us, and breaks the will.
“If need be." What is God trying? "That the trial of your faith." If faith didn't get trials, it would not grow. It grows by trials. Some times, in speaking of the muscle in the arm, we say it is pretty flabby muscle, because we don't exercise it. That is the way with faith.
We don't like this development-this "kept by the power of God through faith.”
It is "unto salvation, ready to be revealed." All is prepared. The kingdom is all there. All He has to do is reveal it, and it is ready to be revealed. We just need to finish that little training! Just so. That will all be over when we are taken away.
It does not matter how long we have been here, and will be here yet, we will always be in school.
It is the school of the Father's discipline God's
discipline. We get restless under it sometimes. It is no use. I often think of Mr. Darby in this connection. He once said, "You had better give up, God won't.”
(To be continued)
Reading on 1 Peter 1:3-14: Part 2
“To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit." This is one of the most remarkable verses in Scripture. "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." What a contrast, the 'high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, dwelling with that broken-willed saint. You know you are the clay in the potter's hand, and the thing is to be pliable enough. "Thou art the potter, we the clay." We are in the hands of a mighty Potter, but One who loves us, and is keeping us in this way for what we are heirs to. It is ready for us-"ready to be revealed.”
In the 5th verse of the 4th chapter, there is a "ready" there too. "Who is ready to judge the quick and the dead." Not only the inheritance ready for the Christian, but there is that Judge ready for the world. "Ready to judge the living and dead." That means everybody, but not at the same time.
What is "the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ?" (ver. 13). Here we are as much the children of God, sons of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, as we shall ever be. What is that grace that is to be brought at the coming of the Lord? (it is the same word as appearing). The grace is receiving us into all that we are heirs to. You see that old saint walking with God fifty or sixty years, is at school, and he knows it-knows his need of it too, and he thanks God for it. These moral means are important, bringing us into communion-make us have to say to God as to the state of our souls.
That passage is quoted sometimes in an absolute way (and I don't like to hear it)-"kept by the power of God." It is "Kept by the power of God through faith.”
There is another thing-"unto salvation." Aren't we saved? Yes, "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling." 2 Tim. 1:9. "By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Eph. 2:8. "To them that are saved." That is a present thing.
Well, the salvation that is ready to be revealed, is a salvation which will take us up, and set us in our inheritance-redeem the body-salvation by power-not by cost. The cost is paid. So that is why it says salvation is a future thing in the Epistles. "Saved" not "by" but "in" hope, but hope that is seen is not 'hope,' " etc. Rom. 8:24, 25.
Then further on in the Epistle, "Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed" 13-11. That is, every day brings us nearer, and so constantly the salvation of God applies to and takes in the whole person-body, soul, and spirit. The Christian never has salvation, as God has purposed for him, until his body is redeemed, and that is the salvation we are speaking of.
The Lord has a work to do for us in His character as Savior. "Our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior" (in that character), "who shall change our bodies of humiliation" (N. T.), etc., Phil. 3:20, 21. In that way, you see, the Savior has something to do for us yet. That is salvation by power-not by purchase. That is just a putting forth of power. That will all be accomplished when the time comes for it. As another Scripture tells us, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," etc.
In this salvation we "greatly rejoice." "Rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Rom. 5:2. "Though now for a season." A season seems pretty long sometimes. You recognize God in these circumstances, and He is working in you both the willing and the doing of His good pleasure.
There is one great difference between the sons, and the Son. When I say the Son, I mean Christ. He was never under discipline. He never had a will to break. The object of God's discipline is the breaking of our wills. The Lord never had any to break. So in the 12Th of Hebrews where you get the question of discipline, the Lord is left out. He was never under God's chastening, disciplining, restraining hand. "Lo, I come to do Thy will." "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me." All can be summed up in that way. The object is the subduing of our wills.
It is being under the yoke that works submission. We are all there.
“The Captain of our salvation perfect through suffering." He can sympathize with us in our suffering!
We never get any sympathy in an unbroken will. That is where advocacy come in.
Do we have sufferings that are not for the purpose of breaking the will?
There you get a "wheel within a wheel." For instance; Here is a poor saint whose heart is wrung to the innermost through the loss of a loved object. Well, there are two things; He says, "I have known what it is; I have known and felt the sorrow of having a loved friend under the power of death." On the other hand, God uses that also to mold the will. Sympathy comes in in that way.
Or, in another way: "If ye are reproached for Christ's sake." "O, yes," the Lord says, "I have known something of that." "The reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon Me." "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up." Suffering for righteousness' sake. "O, yes, I know what that is." That is the "wheel within a wheel." God uses those very things to subdue us.
“Praise, honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (Ver. 7.) God has the end in view. It is just like a teacher with a pupil. "I know that problem is a hard one, but it will be better for you in the end. My credit is at stake too." So the teacher labors with the pupil, and the pupil comes out brightly at graduation, and that pupil is a credit, and the teacher is a credit. "At the appearing"-the end. Then will be seen all the results of God's dealings. The faithfulness and wisdom of the love of God will be seen. Why He sent this-why that was needed. We shall see then.
(Continued from page 25)
(To be continued)
Reading on 1 Peter 1:3-14: Part 3
We speak sometimes of three kinds of discipline. Here is one, and he says, "O, what have I done that all this should come upon me?" "Perhaps you have not done anything, but it is to keep you from it." That is another thing. More than half the discipline of God's people is preventative-not corrective. Paul had a thorn in the flesh lest he should be-not because he was.
Corrective discipline: "For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. For when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord," etc.
Then there is a productive discipline, "Every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”
It is helpful to see the different kinds. Sometimes our circumstances are like poor Job, one thing on top of another, and we say, why is it-what have I done? Perhaps it is just to keep you from doing something. Perhaps you will see later why, though you may not at the time.
All this is the faithfulness of the love and wisdom of God as Father. "As a father chasteneth His son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee" (Deut. 8:5).
We have had some say, "I have searched myself, and sought to be before God about it." There should be the exercise. The blessing is to those "who are exercised thereby.”
Look at Lamentations, 3:22-26. Jeremiah was a good deal like Job. Here he gets back to confidence. He was under a cloud before. "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." This is deliverance from difficulties-salvation as to circumstances. (Read verses 27 to 32.) Notice in those last few words the spirit of submission. "He putteth his mouth in the dust." Quiet-he takes his place in humiliation. "He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him"-submission. "But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies." How beautiful to see the reasoning of this subdued soul here. (This is in connection with our manifold temptations.) In verses 33-36, I think it is very beautiful to see the spiritual reasoning of that afflicted man. He complains a good deal in the book of Jeremiah. (See the 12Th chapter.) Why is so and so? See his reasoning! (verse 1). That is getting it experimentally.
Yes; "I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath." Lam. 3:1.
When he gets to the end, he recoils. He says, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.”
It is a happy thing when we have gone through it though. We may not be so happy in going through it.
I remember hearing—-remark, "It says, `We glory in tribulation.' It does not say 'we glory in them when they are past.'" "Glory in tribulation." Of course that is the normal condition of the Christian. That is why we have it in the 5th of Romans.
Look at James, 1St chapter, 2nd verse, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;" also 3rd and 4th verses, I suppose we shall see by and by, our trials and temptations have been our greatest mercies.
“Whose mouths must be held in by bit and bridle." That "bit and bridle" is circumstances. They miss the “counsel." "Mine eye" is counsel.
Do we get His counsel in the Word?
Yes, yes, if it was not for that, we would be a good prey for Satan to make us think and feel. Everything has to be tested by Scripture.
“We glory in tribulation" when we see what God is doing.
You say, it is very easy to glory in them when they are past. When you say it is the normal condition to glory in them, that does not seem to agree very well with the natural effect?
Who is it that naturally glories? That is the standard. Faith takes hold of it. What we actually find is quite contrary-the actual exercise. How patient and gracious God is! Here we are groaning and groaning about different circumstances, and we read this Scripture, and how rebuked we are. God gives His people credit for a good deal they do not deserve.
When it is a question of salvation (verses 5 and 6), it is "wherein ye greatly rejoice," but when it is a question of seeing Him, "Whom having not seen ye love," it is "Rejoice with joy unspeakable." That is very striking and beautiful. "Joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
It is beyond all conception what it will be to meet the Lord.
While we are on this matter of tribulation, look at the last chapter of 1 Peter and 10th verse: "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." As we go through this Epistle we get a great deal about sufferings. The sufferings of the Christian form no part of the counsels of God, but a very important part of His ways. "Who hath called us unto His Eternal Glory," that is His purpose. "After ye have suffered awhile," that is His ways-using these circumstances to stablish, strengthen and settle.
He does not take us to heaven right away, like He did the thief. It is comparatively few that He does. "After ye have suffered awhile," and those who are taken at once are losers. They never learn anything of the sympathy of Christ -to have to do with God the Father in discipline-they are losers. A Brother once wrote me, "It is good for us to have a good long tramp through the wilderness.”
(Continued from page 52)
(Concluded)
Reading on 2 Peter 1:2-11: Part 1
It is not my thought to comment on all this passage, but to consider how we may have an "abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." I suppose none of us here have any ambition to come dragging into heaven, satisfied with just squeezing in. That is not characteristic of Christianity. I believe there are cases like that-people who do not want to go to hell, but that is not indicative of divine love being there; it is rather a fear of judgment. That doesn't speak of the operations of the divine nature spoken of here in our verse, which is rather the longings of the divine nature to have the association and companionship of the One Who has bought us. He has equipped us with a nature which can only be satisfied with divine glory.
Being made "partakers of the divine nature" is not so much here the result of new birth, as it is rather the practical result. It is not necessarily what we get in being born again, but the practical results of it. How am I going to have the operations in a practical way? We get it in the first part of the 4th verse. That is, if the soul lays hold on these promises which belong to it, lives in the enjoyment of them, the result will be the manifestation of the divine nature.
Of course that couldn't be unless we had the divine nature.
As we were saying, none of us here would be satisfied just to get to heaven, but there is the desire to have an "abundant entrance." It is not a very good way for a ship to have to be dragged into port by a tug, but it is better than to go down at sea. How much more dignified for the old ship to come in under full colors. How proud the sailors are and the captain is, and with what joy they pull in, after a long toilsome voyage! If we are Christians, we are going to make port. We are going to get there all right. What kind of an entrance are we going to have?
The 11Th verse says: "For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." I am sure you would like to have that kind of an entrance. Here are the directions-the recipe-for it, right here. I apprehend the "abundant entrance" being ministered, is not the swinging open of the doors at the end, but it is ministered all along the way.
I rather think when one comes down to the time of facing the change from this world, that is, if he is permitted to face it consciously-if he is permitted to know he is just about to go into the presence of the Lord,-the kind of entrance he is going to have at the end, will largely depend upon the kind of entrance he has had the past year-the Christian life and experience he has been enjoying. You don't expect a Christian who has been living at a distance from the Lord-sort of a half-hearted life-you don't expect him to have an ecstasy, like one who has lived and walked with God. The way to look forward with confidence to that change, is to have these virtues spoken of in the intervening verses of our chapter, operative in the soul.
Verse 3. "According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.”
Young Christian, I wonder if you excuse yourself for your shallowness, on the ground that the circumstances in which you find yourself are not advantageous to the kind of life you would like to live? You have reasoned it out, and you think it would be different if you were living in a different position. If your circumstances were altered, you would be able to live the kind of a Christian life you would like to live. Our verse here says, "His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." There is not one thing lacking. We have a complete equipment. God is not going to put us in a Position where we cannot live for Him, and ask us to live for Him. No-; He has given us all things necessary; right in your present position;
God has given you the fullest possible equipment to live for Him. We don't have to wait until we are older, or know our Bibles better, before we begin to live for the Lord.
How do these "exceeding great and precious promises" make us "partakers of the divine nature"? I believe in this way: It is the entering into, and enjoying these exceeding great and precious promises (what God has done, is doing, and is going to do), as realities. The result is, I am so attracted and under the power of them, that other things lose their attractiveness. We become more "imitators of God," become occupied with the Object that gives concern to God, i.e., what occupies the heart of God, and when we really lay hold on the promises that are ours, that hope works out in the life in a practical way, and we are seen "partakers of the divine nature.”
The latter part of that verse says, "Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." I often look over a company of our young people associated in the outside path, and think, what a fortunate group they are! What a wonderful place they are in! "Escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." We cannot value it too highly, dear young people. If that were true in the days of Peter, how doubly true today:-"corruption in the world through lust." What is lust? It is unsatisfied desires. This world is one constant succession of new desires-ever new desires.
How different with those who know the Lord Jesus Christ. How He satisfies! Divine realities give peace and quiet to the soul. What a blessed thing to be preserved from this ungodly scene. One grieves to see the pace of the young in this world;-the shamelessness of the age;-no regarding of restraint of any kind;-turned loose to glut themselves with what this world has to offer; "wild and crazy age" some have said. Surely those words are not too strong. We have been graciously taken out of it. Such a worthy object, the Christ of God, we have found! That cannot help but have a tremendous effect on our lives. The most worthy Object of the universe-the Christ of God-to have Him brought before us again and again-His glory brought before us; to have His death before us Lord's day morning; His worth repeated in our ears again and again; all that has its transforming power on our souls. What a blessed thing to "escape the corruption in the world through lust." How we ought to prize and value the blessed place in which we find ourselves. Could we imagine in the whole earth a more blessed place, where we would rather be, than gathered to the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, having the association of those who love Him in sincerity and truth, where the Person, work and word of Christ are, by the grace of God, jealously guarded and enjoyed by His people? It is a wonderful place.
(To be continued)
Reading on 2 Peter 1:2-11: Part 2
In the 5th verse we are told "Besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." None of us want to get the reputation of being lazy in material things. There is a lot in Scripture about being diligent in divine things. In the 11Th verse of Rom. 12 it should be, "As to diligent zealousness, not slothful." It has nothing to do with business at all. If you see a young Christian especially devoted, especially godly, you can put it down he didn't get to be that by going on in an indifferent way. He wasn't indolent. So this verse says, "Giving all diligence," etc. There must be purpose of heart. That is true with anything in this world wherein people succeed. People do not stumble into success. It is a matter of hard work; of having a purpose and letting that purpose control and form the soul. Make it a serious business.
There is a word in the 27th Psalm along the same line. 4th verse: "One thing have I desired of the Lord." So far so good. It is a good thing to have right desires, but that isn't all of it. "That will I seek after." That is a very needful part. You say "I would just love to be a real devoted child of God; I don't want to live a shallow Christian life." Well, there is the last part of the verse; "That will I seek after." "Giving all diligence.”
Verse 8: "For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." I know the Lord doesn't occupy us with the fruitfulness or unfruitfulness of our lives. But none of us want to be unfruitful. "If these things be in you and abound, ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful." Here is the way to bear fruit; to be a fruitful branch for the Lord Jesus. He loves to feed among the lilies. The Lord finds His delight there. He gets fruit for His own soul. How are we going to bear the fragrance for Him?
Suppose we lack these things? "He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." There is a kind of government of God operative amongst His people. One part of the government of God is this: If a Christian becomes indifferent and worldly-minded, and lets slip divine things, and becomes taken up with this poor world, just in a corresponding measure he loses the consciousness of the blessedness there is in Christ. He doesn't lose the blessedness, but the consciousness of it. It is possible for a Christian to forget he was purged. He doesn't even know whether or not he is a child of God. Things just become a blank to him, and he goes on either in utter indifference or in despair. He has forgotten he was purged. That is the government of God among His people. We want to escape that, don't we? We want to have the constant assurance in the soul that we are headed for glory. Here is the way to get it. "If these things be in you and abound," etc.
“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." God knows we are going to be there, but this is the way to have constantly fresh in our own souls the assurance of it-to make it sure to ourselves. Just as surely as we become careless and find ourselves involved in this world, we lose that assurance, and perhaps even get into a state where we forget we are purged from our old sins. We don't have to fall. It doesn't bring any glory to the Lord Jesus for us to fall. It brings dishonor on Him, on the truth, and on the Church of God.
“For if ye do these things ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom, of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Isn't that a glorious entrance? That is the privilege of every Christian. It is not a question of endowment, gift or ability, but it is a question of the heart being occupied with the Christ of God; living in the enjoyment of what we have as God's people, bought with the precious blood of Christ.
I believe each one of us here is privileged to have an abundant entrance. It is put into our own hands. We all know that the ability must come from Him. We know it is a matter of grace from first to last, and none of us are going to take any credit in the matter, but may we not thrust ourselves unreservedly upon Him, and claim the grace He so gladly gives, that we may have the joy of an "abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"?
(Continued from page 134)