The Necessity of Righteousness, Title page – Dedication 2
THE NECESSITIE OF RIGHTEOVSNES.
OR A PROFITABLE AND FRVITFVLL SERMON VponUpon the fift Chapter of the Goſpell of S. Mathew. verſ. 20. Preached and Penned by that famous, learned, iudicious, Orthodoxall, holy, wiſe, and skilfull Preacher and ſervant of God, now deceaſed, and with his God triumphing in Heaven, IOHN RANDALL, Ba…elour of Divinitie, Paſtour of St Andrewes Hubbart in little Eaſt-cheape LONDON, Sometimes Fellow of Lincolne Colledge in OXFORD.
And now publiſhed, to the glory of God, the edification of his Church, and the honourable Memoriall of the Author, by WILLIAM HOLBROOKE, Preacher of the Word of God in the Church aforeſaid.
LONDON Printed by I. D. for Nathaniel Newbery and William Sheffard, and are to be ſold at their Shops in Popes-head Alley. 1622.
TO THE RELIGIOVSLY AFFECTED LADY THE LADY BENNET, Wife to Sir Iohn Bennet, all happineſſe here, and hereafter bee multiplied.
MADAM;
AS you were a great looſer by the death of that ſervant of God, maſter Randall, who was to you (whilſt he lived) a faithful and able counſeller, both ſpiritually and bodily, and from whom you received great ſatisfaction, direction, and comfort in all diſtreſſes, whenſoever you reſorted to him, as you hauehave oft confeſſed, to the glory of God. And as your louelove was great to him, manifeſted many wayes, whilſt he liued, and in his ſickneſſe, and ſince his death, by your much lamenting, and weeping for the death of him, that a man may ſay of you, and your louelove to this man departed, as the Iewes did of our Saviour, concerning his louelove to Lazarus, when he wept over him, Behold, how he loued him, Ioh. 11.36. So I know your Ladiſhip will be readie to receiue, and yeeld your beſt countenance to whatſoever was his; wherevpon I hauehave made bolde, in teſtimony of my thankfulneſſe to your Ladiſhip, for your readineſſe (lately) to doe me good, here to Dedicate vntounto you a Sermon of his, Preached and penned by his owne hand, as it commeth to your view: I need not perſwade your Ladiſhip to accept it, I know the child ſhall be welcome, both for it owne and Fathers ſake, eſpecially, conſidering, that it will (in ſome ſort) ſupply, the loſſe and abſence of a profitable and deare friend, whom though you cannot heare, nor ſee any more ſpeaking vntounto you, and counſelling viva voce, yet you may heare and ſee counſelling you by this and other of his writings; for friends abſent, whether liuing or dead, ſpeake by writing, when they cannot be perſonally preſent, and viva voce ſpeake. Conſider then (good Madam) when you reade this, and other of this mans writings, you heare him ſpeaking vntounto you, and counſelling you, and this will be motiue enough, to perſwade your Ladiſhip to entertayne what is here preſented vntounto you. The Lord Ieſus, that Counſeller of his Church and People, by his Spirit counſell, direct, and comfort you, and ſo ſupply the lacke of this, and other friends: he being in ſtead of all; To him I doe and will commend your Ladiſhip for eueryevery good bleſſing by Prayer:
And in Him I reſt, and acknowledge my ſelfe, your Ladiſhips much bounden friend, WILLIAM HOLBROOKE.
TO THE RELIGIOVS GENTLEVVOMAN, Mris THOMASIN OVVEFIELD, All happineſſe in this life, and that which is to come be multiplied.
GOod Mris Owefield;
Conſidering your caſe to be the ſame with the Lady Bennets aforeſaid, both in reſpect of your loſſe in Mr Randall, who was, as to her, ſo to you, a faithfull Counſeller every way, as you hauehave often confeſſed, and alſo in reſpect of your louelove to him, both in life, ſicknes, death, and ſince, onelyonly the odds is on your ſide, in that you hauehave not onelyonly in your owne particular, ſuſteyned a loſſe, but your Family alſo, by the death of that worthy ſervant of God, who oft inſtructed them in the way of the Lord: conſidering, I ſay, your caſe to be like vntounto the foreſaid Ladies, in the foreſaid reſpects, I hauehave made bolde, as a teſtimony of my thankefulnes, for your louelove divers times ſhewed vntounto me, to Dedicate this Worke alſo to you, that your loſſe may (in ſome ſort) be ſupplyed, by ſeeing and hearing him ſpeaking to, and counſelling you, in Print, whom you ſo reioyced to ſee and heare ſpeake, when he was living by word of mouth, I make no queſtion of your acceptance of what was his, as this was both penned and Preached by him, as here it commeth to your View: My deſire ſhall be to God for you, to bleſſe this and all the labours of his, which you hauehave inioyed, any way, to the furthering, edifying, and confirming of you and yours vnmoueably in your preſent faith, which God grant for his Chriſts ſake, in whom I am,
And reſt your much bounden Friend WILLIAM HOLBROOKE.