Of the Church fiue bookes. By Richard Field Doctor of Diuinity and sometimes Deane of Glocester.

About this Item

Title
Of the Church fiue bookes. By Richard Field Doctor of Diuinity and sometimes Deane of Glocester.
Author
Field, Richard, 1561-1616.
Publication
At Oxford :: Imprinted by VVilliam Turner, printer to the famous Vniuersity,
1628.
Rights/Permissions

To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.

Subject terms
Maihew, Edward, 1570-1625. -- Treatise of the groundes of the old and newe religion -- Early works to 1800.
Higgons, Theophilus, 1578?-1659. -- First motive of T.H. Maister of Arts, and lately minister, to suspect the integrity of his religion -- Controversial literature -- Early works to 1800.
Anderton, Lawrence. -- Apologie of the Romane Church -- Controversial literature -- Early works to 1800.
Catholic Church -- Controversial literature -- Early works to 1800.
First part of Protestants proofes, for Catholikes religion and recusancy -- Controversial literature -- Early works to 1800.
Church -- Early works to 1800.
Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A00728.0001.001
Cite this Item
"Of the Church fiue bookes. By Richard Field Doctor of Diuinity and sometimes Deane of Glocester." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A00728.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 28, 2025.

Pages

§. 2.

IN the next place, the Treatiler chargeth Mee, that whereas Luther defendeth that in∣fants in Baptisme actually beleeue, I endeauour to wrest his words to habituall faith; which sence, he sayth Luthers discourses will not admit; and for proofe hereof refer∣reth the reader to certaine places in Luther, and to the positions of his followers: but as Festus sayd vnto Paul, e 1.1 thou hast appealed to Caesar, to Caesar shalt thou goe; so seeing this Treatiser referreth the Reader to Luthers discourses, and the doctrine of his Disciples, to these I will send him, which will turne greatly to the Treatisers disaduantage. For the reader cannot but finde by Luthers discourses, and the doctrine of his Schollers, that I haue rightly deliuered his opinion to bee, that infants are filled with habituall fayth when they are regenerate, and not that they haue any such acts of faith, or knowledge of God, as men of yeares haue. Let vs therefore heare what Luther himselfe will say: some men, saith f 1.2 hee, will obiect against that which I haue said tou∣ching the necessity of faith in such as are to receiue the Sacramērs with profit, that in∣fants haue no faith, nor apprehension of Gods mercies, & that therefore either faith is not so necessarily required to the due receiuing of the sacramēt, or that infants are Bap∣tised in vaine. Here I say, that which all say, that other mens faith, euen the faith of such as present thē to Baptisme, steedeth litle children. For as the word of God is mightie when the sound therof is heard, euen to the changing of the heart of a wicked man, which is no lesse vnapt to heare the voyce of God, & to listen vnto it, thē any litle babe;

Page 838

so by the prayer of the Church, which out of faith (to which all thinges are possible) presenteth it to baptisme, the child is changed, cleansed and renued by the infusion of faith, or by faith, which is infused and powred into it. Thus doth Luther expresse his owne meaning touching this poynt. Now let vs heare what his followers will say. It was agreed vpon, saith g 1.3 Chemnitius, amongst the h 1.4 followers of Luther, that when we say infants beleeue or haue faith, wee must not imagine that they do vnder∣stand or feele the motions of faith. But their errour is rejected, who suppose that in∣fants baptized please God, and are saued without any operation or working of the ho∣ly spirit in them; whereas Christ pronounceth, that vnlesse a man bee borne a new of water and of the spirit, hee cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen. So that this is all that Luther and the rest meant, that children cannot be made partakers of those benefits that God offereth to men in Baptisme, nor inherit eternall life, by vertue of the faith of the Church, without some change wrought in them by the spirit, fitting them to be joyned to God, which change or alteration in them they call faith: not meaning to attribute vnto them an actuall apprehension of Gods mercies; for they constantly deny, that they feele any such motions of faith; but a kinde of habituall faith onely, there being nothing in faith, but such an act of beleeuing, as they deny; or the seede, roote, and habit, whence actual motions in due time do flow. With whom i 1.5 Cal∣vine agreeth; for whereas the Anabaptists obiect against him, defending that infants are capable of regeneration, that the Scripture mentioneth no regeneration but by the incorruptible seed of the word of God, which infants cannot heare: he answereth, that God by his diuine power may renue and change them by some other meanes. Second∣ly hee addeth, that it is not absurde to thinke, that God doth shine into the hearts of those infants, which in infancie hee calleth out of this world to himselfe, and that hee doth make himselfe knowne vnto them in some sorte; seeing they are presently after to be receiued and admitted to the cleare and open view, and sight of his glorious face and countenance, and yet saith, he will not rashly affirme that they are indued with the same faith, which wee finde in our selues, or that they haue knowledge like vnto that of faith. And in the next section, speaking more generally, and not restraining him∣selfe to such as die in infancy, hee saith, that they are Baptized into future repentance, and faith: which vertues though they bee not presently formed in them, yet a seede of either of them lieth hid in them. The Papists are distracted into contrary opinions touching this point: For some thinke that grace the roote of faith, and other vertues, is infused into children in Baptisme, but not faith; other, that not onely grace, but the habit of faith, hope, and charity is powred into them likewise; which opinion as more probable was admitted in the Councell of Vienna, and is embraced by vs as true. Wherefore let the Reader judge whether I haue wrested the words of Luther, or the Treatiser wronged Mee.

Notes

Do you have questions about this content? Need to report a problem? Please contact us.