The separate plots of ground were marked off by stones, which might easilj- be removed (Deut. xix, 14 ; xxvii, 17 ; conip. Job xxiv, 2 ; Prov. xxii, 28 ; xxiii, 10) ; the absence of fences rendered the fields
liable to damage from straying cattle (Exod. xxii, 5) or fire (ver. 6 ; 2 Sam. xiv, 3U) ; hence the necessity of constantly watching flocks and herds, the people so employed being in the present day named Natiir (VVor- tabet, Syria, i, 293). A certain amount of protection was gained by sowing the tallest and strongest of the grain crops on the outside: "spelt" appears to have been most commonly used for this purpose (Isa. xxviii, 25, as in the margin). From the absence of enclos- ures, cultivated land of any size might be termed a field, whether it were a piece of ground of limited area (Gen. xxiii, 13, 17 ; Isa. v, 8), a man's whole inherit- ance (Lev. xxvii, 16 sq. ; Ruth iv, 5 ; Jer. xxxii, 9, 25 ; Prov. xxvii, 26; xxxi, 16), the ager puhlicus of a town (Gen. xli, 48; Neh. xii, 29), as distinct, however, from the ground immediately adjacent to the walls of the Levitical cities, which was called 'w3l'i"2 (A. V. " suburbs"), and was deemed an appendage of the town itself (Josh, xxi, 11, 12), or, lastly, the territory of a people (Gen. xiv, 7 ; xxxii, 3 ; xxxvi, 35 ; Numb. xxi, 20; Ruth i, 6; iv, 3; 1 Sam. vi, 1; xxvii, 7, 11). In 1 Sam. xxvii, 5, "a town in the field" (Auth.Vers. " country") = a provincial town as distinct from the royal city. A plot of ground sepai'ated from a larger one was termed IIT'J rp?^ (Gen. xxxiii, 19; Ruth ii, 3 ; 1 Chron. xi, 13), or simply i^ppH (2 Sam. xiv, 50; xxiii, 12; comp. 2 Sam. xix, 29). Fields occa- sionally received names after remarkable events, as Helkath-Hazzurim, the field of the strong men, or possi- bly of swords (2 Sam. ii, 16), or from the use to which they may have been applied (2 Kings xviii, 17 ; Isa. vii, 3; Matt, xxvii, 7). See Laxd.
It should be observed that the expressions " fruit- ful field" (Isa. X, 18; xxix, 17; xxxii, 15, 16) and "plentiful field" (Isa. xvi, 10 ; Jer. xlviii, 33) are not connected witli sadeh, but with hrirmel, meaning a park or well-kept wood, as distinct from a wilder ess or a forest. The same term occurs in 2 Kings xix, 23, and Isa. xxxvii, 24 (A. Vers. " Carmel") ; Isa. x, 18 ("forest)," and Jer. iv, 26 ("fruitful place"). See Carmel. Distinct from this is the expression in Ezek. xvii, 5, •J';}':-^^^ (A.V. " fruitful field"), which means a field suited for planting suckers. — Smith, s. v. See Agriculture.
Field, David Dudley, D.D., a Congregational minister, was born in East Guilford, Conn., May 20, 1781, prepared for college under Dr. John Elliott, of Guilford, and graduated at Yale in 1802. After stud- ying theology under Dr. Backus, he was licensed to preach in 1803, and was installed pastor at East Had- dam in 1804. Ho filled this charge with great dili- gence and success until 1818, and in 1819 accepted a call to Stockbridge, Mass. After eighteen j^ears' pas- toral service at Stockbridge, he was called in 1837 to his old parish at Haddam. In 1848 he travelled in Euroi)e. In 1851 ho gave up his charge at Haddam, and spent the remainder of his life in quiet retirement at Stockbridge, where he died April 15, 1867. Dr. Field was a man of strong character. His mental powers were vigorous and comprehensive ; his culture was at once thorough and varied. Ilis duties as ])reacher and pastor were always filled with conscien- tious care ; and his long pastorates, with the unusual case of his return to his first charge after an absence of thirty-tliree years, sufficiently attest the confidence and affection of his parishioners. Of his ton children, six sons are now living, and all eminent as profession- al men ; among them are Cyrus W. Field, the " father" of the Atlantic Telegraph, and Dr. H. j\I. Field, editor of The New York Enmgelist. Resides a number of oc- casional sermons, Dr. Field published History of Mid- dlesex : — History of Berkshire : — Genealogy of the Brai- nerd Family.— \])\AeX on a Annual Cyclop. 1867, p. 301.
Field, Richard, D.D., one of the best of the High-
FIELD-PREACHING
FIELD-PREACHIXG
Church writers of the Church of Enghind, was born at Hampstead, Hertfordsliire, in luGl, ;uid wns educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where ho lectured for seven years on logic and i)hilosoph}-, and gained the reputa- tion of a learned preacher and an acute disputant. He was afterwards reader of divinity at Lincoln's Inn, London, and rector of Burghclear in Hampshii'e. Here he refused the offer of St. Andrew's, in Holborn, Lon- don, a much more valuable living, that he might serve God and pursue his studies in a more retired situation. In Ib'JS cjueen Ellzal)eth made him one of her chap- lains, and he formed a warm friendship with Richard Hooker, a man of kindred spirit. In IGOi he was made canon of NA'iudsor, and in 1G09 dean of Glouces- ter. " He was esteemed a perfect oracle in ecclesias- tical learning. Divines, even of the first order, scarce ever went to him without loading themselves with questions. Fuller calls him 'that learned divine, whose memory smelleth like a field which the Lord hath blessed.' When king James heard him preach the first time, he said, 'This is a Field for God to dwell in.' His majesty retained so good an opinion of him that he de- signed to raise him to the bishopric of Oxford ; but God was pleased, as Mr. Wood remarks, to prefer him for a better place, for, on the 21st of November, 161G, he died, leaving behind him a character equally great and amiable. His reputation rests securely on his great work. The Book of the Church, which was origin- ally issued in IGOO, and with a fifth book added in 1810. A new edition, printed for the "Feci. Hist. Society," appeared at Cambridge, 1847-52 (-4 vols. 8vo). — Hook, L'ccl. Bio;;, v, 116 ; IMiddleton, Eccl. Biog. ii, 37-4.