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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	work_n	work_v	write_v	440	3	5.2807	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61464	A call from death to life and out of the dark wayes and worships of the world where the seed is held in bondage under the merchants of Babylon / written by Marmaduke Stephenson, who (together with ... William Robinson) hath (since the writing hereof) suffered death, for bearing witnesse to the same truth amongst the professors of Bostons jurisdiction in New England ; with a true copy of two letters, which they writ to the Lords people a little before their death ; and also the true copy of a letter ... from a friend in New England, which gives a brief relation of the manner of their martyrdom, with some of the words which they exprest at the time of their suffering.	Stephenson, Marmaduke, d. 1659.; Pearson, Peter, 17th cent.; Robinson, William, d. 1659.; Dyer, Mary, d. 1660.	1660 (1660)	Wing S5466; ESTC R16756	29,922	32

do his work and service for it was pleasing to them thus hath the Devils work been done for a long time together and the Lords work neglected which should have been done Thus have men and women been growing as trees of unrighteousnesse bringing forth fruit to the unrighteous one the prince of darknesse which hath long re●gned and had possession in the heart of man So all dear people consider well of your conditions that you may see what Trees you are and to whom you bring forth fruit and this concerns you all to know from the least of you to the greatest for the Lord is no respecter of persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh Righteousnesse is accepted of him who is our hiding Place and Rock of sure defence for us to flie unto where we are kept safe in the hollow of his hand So dear neighbours and People consider that you have long been labouring for the meat that must perish come to an end now it stands you all in hand to seek after the living Bread and hidden Manna that comes down from above and is given to feed the Hungry and strengthen the feeble minded and verily it is so in love and plainnesse to you do I speak that you who can live without this living Bread your Souls lies in Death still and the witnesse lies slain in Sodom and Egypt in you and the Seed lies covered under the Clods of the Earth in you and unlesse it arise and live in you you cannot be saved nor enter into the land of Rest which is prepared for the Faithful who are regenerate and born again of the Holy Seed which shall inherit the blessing the Son of God which is Heire of the Promise and in him is our life hid with God from the vulturous eye and venemous Beast and from the Lord are we refreshed day by day So dear People let the witnesse of God arise and be awakened in you all that the seed may come forth from under the Clods of your hard and stony hearts that so the prisoner may be set at liberty which long hath been oppressed and for the sake of it in you am I constrained to write unto you not knowing whether I may see your faces in the flesh any more yea or nay Oh! that you would lay these things to heart which I in love have written to you not knowing how soon your breath may be stopt and your life taken from you and as Death leaves you so must you appear before the Lord and be judged according to your doings So dear hearts do not sleight the day of your visitation nor the tenders of Gods love which is yet held forth to you least you be taken away in your sins and die in your iniquities and then I know your portion will be sad Therefore do I warn you in Bowels of tender love and in pity to the Captive in you that you run no longer in your former vanities in spending your time out of the fear of God for all they that live out of the fear of God do not feel his presence nor enjoy his blessing So all hearken to the Counsel of God and be attentive to his Voice and lend your ear to his Call while he is knocking at the door of your hearts Oh! do not resist him but let him in that he may take possession whose right it is for verily if you resist him when he calls upon you and will not lend your ears to his Counsel nor give ear to his Words a day of trouble and perplexity of Spirit will assuredly come upon you then will you call upon the Lord but he will not hear you but will hide his face from you even so will it be with you at that day because the Lord called and you would not hear him so when you call upon him he wil not hear you And this from the Lord God I declare unto you that if you perish your destruction is of your selves and the Lord will be cleare of your blood in the day of your account So dear people let the patience and forbearance of our God towards you lead you to repentance now no longer go on in sin against that of God in your Consciences but all stoop down to the witnesse of God in you that the Seed may arise to live in you for the blessing is upon England for the Seeds sake which God hath raised and it is growing and the vertue of it is spreading over the Nations and the Kingdom of Christ begins to flourish in the Earth but this I say unto you that unlesse you feel the Seed of God to arise and live in you you cannot inherit the blessing for the blessing is to the Seed the Plant of Gods Renown which he hath regard unto for it is of his Nature and Image and proceeds from him who is meek and lowly and easie to be entreated by the upright for his ear is open to their cry who hungers and thirsts after his presence to refresh their Souls So dear people lie no longer in Death but come out of the Grave of Carnal security wherein you lie that your Souls may live then will you prize with me the love and presence of the Lord above all things But unlesse that be restored to life in you which lies in Death you cannot prize the love of God for you do not feel his presence and this you know by experience that a dead Child is not sencsible of want neither doth it hunger after the breast but a living Child that is born into the World is soon sencible of want and in it is a hunger raised after the milk which comes from the breast to refresh it withal for it cannot live without it or some other food like unto it and this is a true figure to you and all and thorow it you may read your selves and how your conditions are every one in particular that so you may no longer be deceived nor rest in a false hope which will faile you and even so it is with you all who never found a true hunger raised after the Lord and after his Presence to refresh your Souls but you who can live content and rest satisfied without nourishment from him you are as a dead Child which feels no hunger nor want and this is the truth to you all the Lord revive your sences and quicken your understandings that you may be sencible how your conditions are which is the desire of my Soul that so you may not perish in your gain-sayings and for this very end is this written to you as I was moved of the Lord in bowels of compassion to you knowing that you are where I once was in the perishing state like the Prodigal from the Fathers House in the far Country feeding upon the husks with the swine and this was my state and condition for many years but in the time appointed the Lord looked upon me with

the Lamb but the day of their downfal is at hand and the Lamb shall have the victory and Rule and Reign in his People for ever and ever for now he is arisen in the Power of his Spirit with great Dominion and Authority to slay the wicked and cut down his enemies that resist him in his way And they that will not have him to Reign over them must fall before him who is our Head who will render vengeance in flames of fire upon all his enemies So dear People be awakened and stand up to Judgement and live no longer in carelesnesse and Carnal security but own the Light of Christ to be your guide for a measure of it is given to every one of you to profit withall and it is nigh you in your hearts and in your mouths the word of Faith which is able to save your Souls so all to it take heed that by it you may be quickened and revived again out of your fallen estate wherein you lie by reason of your transgressions which have made a separation between you and your Maker and verily I say unto you except ye be regenerate and born again you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God So dear People young and Old I speak to you all as one consider how you have spent your time and let a true search passe through you all that you may see whom you have been serving all your time for Servants you are to whom you do obey So dear People be not deceived for God will not be mocked such as you sow such you must reap from the hand of the Lord and receive according to your deeds whether they be good or evil who will give a reward to every man according as his works shall be for he is a God that will not wink at wickedness nor let the transgressor go unpunished to whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confesse him Lord who created Heaven and Earth whom we serve and Worship who is our Lord and King and Captain of our Salvation Our Leader and Guider and our Preserver night and day our Mighty and Strong One the Mighty God of Israel is his Name the wonderful Counsellor and Prince of our Peace whose presence is with us to the confounding of our Enemies that rise up in opposition against us for he goes before us who is our Life to tread down our Enemies under his feet who is terrible to the wicked and all that forgets him must be turned into Hell where the worm dies not and the fire never goes out the swearer and the lyar must go thither that is their portion the Drunkard and the Whore-monger must go thither the proud and Covetous cannot escape the damnation of Hell and all they that lives Dives like must pertake of Dives torment which is coming upon them from which they cannot escape nor flie from and all such must go into the lake with the Beast and the false Prophet which have long born rule by their means in England and in the Nations abroad for they have devoured my Flock and the Sheep of my pasture saith the Lord Almighty who will be avenged on them for the wounded they have not healed nor comforted those who were sick neither have they brought back again that which was driven away but with force and cruelty have they ruled but the Lord God is now come in his Mighty Power to take their power from them and deliver his People out of their hands which have long been made a prey upon by them and reward them double for their doings So you my dear neighbours do not uphold them any longer in their sin in satisfying their greedy desires least you pertake with them of their plagues and of the wrath of God that is coming upon them from which they cannot escape for they have grieved the Spirit of the Lord from day to day to see what havock they have made in the Nation of England by spoyling and causing spoyl to be made of Peoples Goods and Estates Oh! their sin is great and grievous to be born and the cry of their oppression and their iniquity is entered into the eares of the Lord that he is even grieved and sore vexed at them for they have trampled upon his witnesse in them and have pressed him with their sin as a Cart is pressed with sheaves so that he can bear no longer with them because their iniquity doth abound Oh! search the Scriptures and see if they do not go beyond and exceed the fal●e Prophets of old in deceit and subtile hypocrisie Oh! they might even blush for shame to consider what they have done and caused to be done which will fall sad and heavy upon them when the Lord calls them to an account and requires his flock at their hands then shall they roar and weep bitterly and wish they had never been Born when Calamity Anguish of Spirit overtakes them which they will certainly meet withal for the Lord hath spoken it who will perform his promise that the Beast and the false Prophet shall go into the Lake together and for ever be tormented with the Devil and his angels for thither must they go and all that joyns with them must partake of their punishment So dear Friends and People take heed what you do in joyning with such who leads you to destruction for in the broad way they are walking themselves and leads you after them into the Pit of Perdition where they must remain for ever for they will not enter into the Kingdom themselves nor suffer you if they can hinder And will not the Lord arise for the Redemption of his Seed Yea surely he is arisen already to shake the Nations that resist him and hath given the Power to his Son which shall rule the Nations with a Rod of Iron and they that will not bow to his Government must be destroyed and broken to pieces the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it So dear Friends and People young and old mind well what is written and ponder it in your hearts for in love to you all do I speak the Lord is my witnesse that this is not written in any prejudice of mind to any mans person neither in prejudice or envy against the Priests or the false prophets but against their evil actions which we see in them which we loath and detest for never did the true Prophets of the Lord seek their gain from their Quarter as these Priests now do in this generation nor ever did they sue men at law for Tithes as these Priests do now neither did they the Lord sent forth to declare his mind and will make bargains with people for so much a year or abide in one Town for many years together as these Priests do now nay they went from one place to another from City to City and from Country to Country in obedience to the Command of the Lord as Ieremiah and the rest of the

often break me in pieces and often melt me into tears when he rises in his strength within me Oh! I am overwhelmed with it Oh! feel my dear heart how strong and mighty the Lord God is with me Oh! though thousands of the Philistins doth compass me round yet surely the God who is with me will work by me for truely I see them all before me as a Potters vessel which the Lord God will with his hand dash in pieces dear heart I am present with thee in the spirit and heavenly life and if the Lord permit we shall behold one another in the outward man to the comfort and joy of the spirit my dearly beloved on next fifth day we intend if the Lord will to come to Boston with several Friends with us which was so done Thy dear Brother in the Heavenly life and Spirit of Truth W. R. This was written by William Robinson to the Court of Boston ON the 8th day of the 4th Month 1659. in the after part of the day in travelling betwixt Newport on Rhode Island and Daniel Goulds house with my dear Brother Christopher Holder the Word of the Lord came expresly to me which did fill me immediately with life and power and heavenly love by which he constrained me and commanded me to pass to the Town of Boston my life to lay down in his Will for the accomplishing of his service that he had there to perform at the day appointed to which heavenly voice I presently yielded obedience not questioning the Lord how he would bring the thing to pass being I was a Child and obedience was demanded of me by the Lord who filled me with living strength and power from his Heavenly presence which at that time did mightily over-shadow me 〈◊〉 my life did say Amen to what the Lord required of me 〈…〉 commanded me to do and willingly was I given up from that time to this day the will of the Lord to do and perform whatever becomes of my body for the Lord hath said unto me My Soul shall rest in Eternal Peace and my life shall enter into rest for being obedient to the God of my life I being a Child and durst not question the Lord in the least but rather willing to lay down my life then to bring dishonour to the Lord and as the Lord made me willing dealing gently and kindly with me as a tender Father towards a faithful Child whom he dearly loves so the Lord did deal with me in Ministring of his life unto me which gave and gives me strength to perform what the Lord hath required of me and still as I did and do stand in need he ministred and ministreth more strength and vertue and heavenly power and wisdom whereby I was and am made strong in God not fearing what man shall be suffered to do unto me being filled with heavenly courage which is meekness and innocency for the cause is the Lords that we go in and the Battel is the Lords and thus saith the Lord of Hosts the mighty and terrible God not by strength nor by might nor by power of man but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts I will perform what my mouth hath spoken through my servants whom I have chosen mine Elect in whom my Soul delighteth Friends the God of my life and the God of the whole earth did lay this thing upon me for which I now suffer bonds near to death he by his Almighty power and Everlasting love constrained me and laid this thing upon me and truly I could not deny the Lord much less resist the Holy One of Israel Therefore all who are ignorant of the motion of the Lord in the inward parts be not hasty in judging in this matter before you hear the truth of the matter least you speak evil of the things you know not for of a truth the Lord God of Heaven and Earth commanded me by his Spirit and spoke unto me by his Son whom he hath made Heir of all things and in his life I live and in it I shall depart this earthly Tabernacle if unmerciful men be suffered to take it from me and herein I rejoice that the Lord is with me the antient of dayes the life of the Suffering Seed for which I am freely given up and singly do stand in the Will of God for to me to live is Christ but to dye is gain And truly I have a great desire and will to dye herein knowing that the Lord is with me whatever ignorant men shall be able to say against me for the witness of the Spirit I have received and the presence of the Lord and his Heavenly life doth accompany me so that I can say in truth and from an upright heart Blessed be the Lord the God of my life who hath counted me worthy and called me hereunto to bear my Testimony against ungodly and unrighteous men who seek to take away the life of the righteous without a cause as the Rulers of the Mathathusets bay doth intend if the Lord stop them not from their intent Oh! hear ye Rulers and give ear and listen all ye that have any hand herein to put the innocent to death for in the Name and Fear and Dread of the Lord God I here declare the cause of my staying here amongst you and continuing in your jurisdiction after there was a sentence of banishment upon death as you said pronounced against me without a just cause as you all well know that we who were banished committed nothing worthy of banishment nor of any punishment much less banishment upon death And now ye Rulers you do intend to put me to death with my companion unto whom the Word of the Lord God came unto him saying Go to Boston with thy Brother William Robinson unto which Command he was obedient who had said unto him He had a great work for him to do which thing is now seen and the Lord is now a doing of it and it is in obedience to the Lord the God of the whole earth that we continued amongst you and that we came to the Town of Boston again in obedience to the Lord the Creator of Heaven and Earth in whose hand your breath is And will you put us to death for obeying the Lord the God of the whole earth Well if you do this act and put us to death know this and be it known unto you all ye Rulers and People of this Jurisdiction that whosoever hath a hand herein will be guilty of innocent blood and not onely upon your selves w●ll ye bring innocent blood but upon this Town and the Inhabitants thereof and every where within your Jurisdiction that had the least hand therein therefore be instructed ye Rulers of this land and take warning betimes and learn wisdom before it be hid from your eyes Written by one who feareth the Lord who is by ignorant people called a Quaker and unto such am only known by the name William Robinson

A CALL FROM Death to Life AND Out of the Dark wayes and Worships of the World where the Seed is held in Bondage under the Merchants of Babylon Written by Marmaduke Stephenson Who together with another dear Servant of the Lord called William Robinson hath since the Writing hereof suffered Death for bearing Witnesse to the same Truth amongst the Professors of Bostons Jurisdiction in New England With a True Copy of Two Letters which they Writ to the Lords People a little before their Death And also the True Copy of a Letter as it came to our hands from a Friend in New England which gives a brief Relation of the manner of their Martyrdom with some of the Words which they exprest at the time of their suffering John 16.2 3. They shall put you out of their Assemblies yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor Me saith Christ London Printed for Thomas Simmons at the Sign of the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate 1660. To the READER But especially to you that are Professors one in Doctrine and discipline with the professors in New England do we write these things that the witnesse of God may arise in you to judge between the Lords people called Quakers and your Brethren the Professors in New England whether they have not forgotten God and his goodnesse towards them and lost their first love which was stirring in them when they were little amongst the Families of the Earth and whether they are not Children of the Whorish woman that is called the Mother of Harlots that hath sitten upon many waters and deceived the Nations with the wine of the Wrath of her fornications which she offers in her golden Cup till the Earth is corrupted with violence and she made drunk with the Blood of the Saints Seeing they are so far Adulterated from God and Christ as that in their skirts is also found the Blood of the Saints Martyrs of Jesus Oh! how are they fallen that once seemed so tender in Conscience as that they would rather leave their native Countrey then practice things contrary to their Conscience and who would have believed that they which once fled for fear of sufferings would have caused others to suffer under their own hands which are now become wicked hands For they have taken two of Gods dear Servants and hanged them on a Tree for no matter of Fact committed by them against any Law which is Iust but because they were found by their words and actions to be Quakers and did contrary to the sentence of banishment which upon pain of death the Court passed upon them * return into their Iurisdiction as they were required of God to bear witnesse unto the Truth in which there is power to set free and for the Testimony thereof and that they might hold forth the good will of God in love to their Enemies and that they might be clear from the blood of all men in giving them warning to repent and walk in the Light of the Lord their lives were not dear to them they being nothing terrified by their adversaries which to them is an evident token of perdition but to the patient sufferers of Salvation and that of God with whom they have now a reward in the endlesse life So that in them is fulfilled the words of Christ he that will loose his life for my Sake shall find it but we do clearly see in the Light of the Lord that he that seeks to save his own life will kill the Iust and therefore we marvel not at what the professors in New England that fled to save themselves have done Knowing that they which are born after the flesh will persecute him that is born after the Spirit but we do even pity to see such as do professe Scriptures have their eyes so shut and their hearts so grosse as to think they do God good service when they not onely cast out of their Synagogues but out of their Countrey and do Imprison Scourge cut off Ears and kill those that come to them in the Name and fear of the Lord and do tremble at Gods Word working out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling and here we do appeal to the witnesse of God in you all Professors and People whether the Professors in New England have not acted quite contrary to God in Imprisoning Scourging Banishing and Killing those that tremble at his Word seeing God hath said to this man will I look that is of a broken and contrite heart and trembleth at my Word but to such the Professing Rulers in New England will not look neither suffer them to have a being amongst them And again we say let the witnesse of God in you judge whether they have not acted directly contrary to Christ in destroying mens lives seeing he comes not destroy mens lives but to save mens lives and whether they be not quite out of his Doctrine and Royal Law which saith what ever ye would that men should do unto you do you even so unto them And we do likewise appeale unto the witnesse of God in all sober people whether the Pastours and Teachers of the People in New England that stir up and encourage their flocks to persecute to death Gods Servants be not become bruitish and contrary to the Ministers of Christ and their flocks contrary to the Primitive Christians seeing the Ministers of Christ were gentle towards all men and did not strive nor warr with Carnal Weapons but did meekly instruct them that did oppose themselves that with sound Doctrine they might convince their Adversaries and they both loved and taught the believers that followed them to love their Enemies and not kill them as they have killed those that they account their Enemies for which they have no cause unl●sse it be for speaking the Truth And again whether these Teachers and Professors and all that justifie their proceedings against the Lords Servants be not of that Generation that killed the Prophets and shamefully entreated those that were sent unto them which called the Master of the house Beelzebub and killed the Prince of Life seeing they do the same things to them of his Houshold And Reader That it may appear that these two which the Professors of New England have taken and by wicked hands put to death were the Servants of Christ Iesus and of the Houshold of God we do here present to thy view these things following which were writ by their own hands and sent unto us not long before their death Together with a Letter which was Writ from Plymouth in New England by Peter Pearson relating the manner of their death with some of their words which they did expresse a little before their Martyrdom all which we desire may be seriously weighed and laid to heart that the witnesse of God may rise in Iudgement against the

true Ministers did to whom the Word of the Lord came saying I have ordained thee a Prophet unto the Nations Mark not to a Town or a City to remain in for many years together but to the Nations and in obedience to the living God he testified against the World that their deeds were evil but they could not bear his words but said he was worthy to die and so the Priests and false Prophets joyned with the Princes and Rulers of the people and cast him into prison and into the dungeon where he did sink amongst the mire that was in it Read in his prophesie and you will find it so and this was that which the true Prophets and Ministers of Christ received from the World where they went stocking whipping and Imprisonments thus were they requited evil for good in all Ages for their love which they did bear to the souls of the Sons of men and the same must we expect from this generation wherein we live we whom the Lord hath called to place his Name in and hath sent us forth in this day of his love to preach his Everlasting Gospel to them which dwell upon the earth in love and pity to their souls but they regard it not though we go thousands of miles for the Seeds sake which lies in death yet the reward of our labour from them is prisons and whips to scourge us withal and knives prepared to cut off ears and Irons hot to burn in the hand thus are we requited evil for good for testifying against the World that their deeds are evil and therefore do they hate us as they did Christ and his Apostles and calls us Deceivers Fools and Hereticks Jesuites and the like because we speak the truth to them and cannot joyn with them in their abominations but stands as witnesses for the Lord God against them therefore do the Priests and Rulers joyn hand in hand together against us as they did against the true Prophets Christ and his Apostles as you may read in the Scriptures of Truth which bear Testimony to these things So dear Neighbours and People where this may come consider my end in writing this unto you the Lord is my witnesse that this is not written as to set up our selves and pull down others but it is written for your sakes that you might come so see the deceit of your own hearts which hath long lodged in you and also the deceit of the Priests in this generation that seek their gain from their quarter and keeps you captive in Babylon and Aegypt where our Lord is crucified as they did many of us in time past where we were bewitched by their sorceries and their smooth words in speaking peace to us w●en our soules lay in death unconverted in our fallen estates as they are at this day so they could not help us out of it being in it themselves Thus were we led by them in blindnesse for many years together ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth by them if the Lord had not looked upon us with an eye of pity we had surely perished under their Teaching because they are out of the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles who was sent to open blinde eyes and turn People from darknesse to the light of Christ in them and from the Power of Satan to God but these Priests labour in this generation to keep people in darknesse in blindnesse and in ignorance in Death in their unconverted estate that so they might not see their deceit as we do the Lord open your eyes that you may see how you have been led astray out of the true way which leads unto Eternal Life Oh! my love in tendernesse runs out to you all my dear neighbours and acquaintance in Bowels of compassion and pity to your Souls which lies in Death as mine hath done but the Lord in his Eternal love and pity to my Soul hath redeemed me from my fallen estate and raised my Soul from Death to Life and out of the Pit wherein it lay dead in trespasses and sins and seeing the Lord hath done this for me I cannot but declare it to the Sons of men and praise his Name in the Land of the living who hath done great things for me and when I consider and ponder it in my heart my Soul is ravished with his love and broken into teares to consider his kindnesse toward me who was by Nature a Child of wrath as well as other● Oh! the consideration of his love hath constrained me to follow him and to give up all for his sake if it be for the laying down of my life for none are the Disciples of Christ but they that follow him in the Crosse and through sufferings and they that love any thing more then Him are not worthy of Him Now minde well and consider what I say the true unfeigned love to God doth not break the love from one another but it breakes the bands of wickednesse as Strife Debate Anger and Envie that have lodged in the mind one against another and when these things are destroyed in men and women then comes the love of God to abound in them and encrease one to another and this I witnesse and the Lord beareth me testimony to what I speak that my love is dearer and nearer to those in relation to me than ever it was before and I know some of them feels it so yea the Lord knows my heart whom I serve that I lie not but speak the truth to you all that so you might not stumble nor have any prejudice in your mindes against me without a cause who am a lover of all your Soules and for that cause is this written to you that you may know it is so for the Lord knows I do not forget you though I be thousands of miles from you because of the simplicity that was in some of you who were my neighbours and acquaintance for I am one who have obtained mercy from the Lord through judgement and great tribulation which all must passe through before they come into the Land of Canaan they must be regenerate and born again and know a dying to sin and that which they have delighted in before they witnesse a living to Righteousnesse the Old man must be put off with his deeds before the new man be put on Christ Jesus the Son of the living God who is the expresse Image of his Fathers Glory who is taking his People to himself out of the 〈◊〉 of the Beast and false Prophets who have long made a prey upon them but the day is come that they shall make no longer a prey upon them for the Lord hath said it that he will teach his People himself and under his Government shall they dwell safely from the devourer and venemous beasts which hath long had his seat in the Earth amongst the Sons of men and by him they have been led Captive at his will to