THE STATE OF THE Church of Christ, IN ITS MILITANCY upon EARTH, And the DUTY of it, with respect to Penal LAWS, IN A SERMON Preached at the Assizes at Chelmsford In the County of ESSEX, 8 MARCH 1687/8. By RICHARD GOLTY M. A. Minister of Hutton in the County aforesaid.  Quod tibi non vis, alteri ne feceris. 
LONDON, Printed and Published by Randall Tailor near Stationers-Hall. 1688.   

This may be Printed.  
SUNDERLAND. P.   

To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Wright Knight, Lord Chief Justice of England, to the Honourable Sir John Powel Knight, one of the Justices of His Majesty's Court of Kings-Bench; My Lords, the Judges at the Assize holden at Chelmsford, etc. And also to the Right Worshipful Sir Thomas Manby Knight, High Sheriff of the County aforesaid.  
THis Sermon, at the Appointment of the High Sheriff, was Preached before▪ Your Lordships and the Great Assembly at the Assizes; and whatever unkind and sinistrous Censures in this nice and critical Age, may be cast upon me and it, yet it was honestly designed by me, in Service to the Peace and Unity of the Christian Church, to affect that Auditory with a sense of their Obligation constantly to assert what is necessary to the support and honour of Religion among us, and to allay our salt and eager Differences and Animosities, in what is impertinent thereunto; to dispose us to a willingness to be rid of those Apples of Strife, that have been the notorious occasion of Discord and Contention in this unhappily divided Kingdom. I can't but hope that there is such a general sense of our having been too long under those symptoms of God's displeasure, which the Prophet Isaiah 9 21. observes, concerning the Jews (that while Ephraim was divided against Manasseh, and Manasseh against Ephraim, and both against Judah, God's Anger was not turned away, but his hand was stretched out still against them) as may prepare our hearts to a cheerful concurrence in, and compliance with such healing Proposals, as are proper for the establishing amongst us a Christian Amity and brotherly Reconciliation. I have humble Confidence that this, which was my end in Preaching, is Your Lordships and Worships, in laying me under such Obligation to the Publication of it, as I cannot in decency decline; not doubting but that all such as bear Good Will to Zion, will promote such uniting Methods, that all single and narrow Interests, may give place to that of common Christianity; that no unchristian heats and contests, may cause such alienation in affection among Brethren of the same Sacred Family, as for trifles to fall out in their way to their Father's House; but that we may all consent in the pursuit of the Divine Ends of Religion, which are sincere Devotion towards God, sound Faith in Christ, Holiness in Heart and Life, Humility, Meekness, Brother-Love and Charity towards Men; in service to which, that Your Honours and Worship may be eminent in your respective Stations Instrumentally, is the most hearty Prayer of  
Your most Obedient and Humble Servant RIC. GOLTY.   
S. Matthew Chap. XIII. the 29th and the former part of the 30th. Verse. But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the Tares, ye root up also the Wheat with them; Let both grow up together until the Harvest. 
THe shortest Preface will be an unseasonable Remora to my Entry into that Spacious Field in which my Text engages my travel; it being by the most Divine Expositor, with respect to its Extent, styled the World.  
I shall therefore observe to you, That in this whole Parable of the Tares and Wheat, our Blessed Saviour doth first describe the State, and secondly prescribe the Duty of his Church in its Militancy here upon Earth.  
In the first of which 'tis evident, that though Christ himself the Seedsman, though he sows only the good seed of Pure and Divine Doctrine, yet when the blade springs up, the tares also appear: Tho the Church is styled here the Kingdom of God, in which he in especial governs, yet there are in it too many rebellious and undutiful Subjects: Tho the Apostle tells us, 'Tis the House of God, in which by his grace and spirit, he particularly resides, yet 'tis not void of ungracious and disobedient servants. 'Tis Magna Domus Dei, but in it there are not only Vessels of Gold and Silver, but of Wood and Earth; some to honour and some to dishonour. Tho 'tis that Vine which Gods right hand hath planted, yet it hath some dead and infertile branches. That this is the condition of the Christian Church in this World, is not only the purport of this but of the Parable of the Fold, consisting both of Sheep and Goats, of the Barn Floor, having both Wheat and Chaff, and of the Net enclosing Fishes good and bad.  
To this purpose St. Austin in his First Book De Civitate Dei, saith, Perplexae sunt istae duae Civitates in hoc seculo invicemque permistae; The City of God and the City of Satan, are so intermixed in this World, that they are not to be separated till the Day of Judgement.  
This from all that make common Observation, commands such an universal acknowledgement, that I shall not waste the time in offering further enlargement upon it; only from it observe the Vnacaccountableness of the Separation in the Donatists of old, and some others, of late, from the Visible Church, upon pretence of Spots and Corruptions in it; notwithstanding which, we are to be firm to that Article in our Creed, in believing One Holy Catholic Church. Denominatio sit a nobiliori; and 'tis one, though one part is Militant here on Earth, and the other Triumphant in Heaven.  
It must be here in a state of Imperfection; 'tis at the great Harvest, then, and not till then, it will be Perfect, consisting only of the Righteous, as St. Austin, Contra Donatistas', Tandent ipsam unam & sanctam Ecclesiam, nunc habere mixtos malos, tunc non habituram: Now the Holy Church hath a mixture of unholy Men in it, which then it will not have. At that great Day Christ will present it to himself without spot, and blameless. Then, only the Wheat will be gathered into his Barn.  
But 'tis the Direction Christ gives in this place [that being the most seasonable and useful at this time] to which I shall now confine my Discourse. When the Blade sprung up, the Tarcs also appeared, the Servants enquiring in this uneasy, and to them unexpected Case, Wilt thou that we go and gather them up? In answer to this their demand, he said, Nay, etc.  
Where first he enters his Denial.  
2. He gives his positive Sentence, Let them grow up together.  
The Reason of the Negative, Lest while ye gather up the Tares, etc.  
And of the Positive, why suffered in their growth? Because at the time of the Harvest they could more seasonably, and with greater safety, be separated from the Wbeat. Then I will say to the Reapers, etc.  
In my procedure upon this, I shall endeavour first to show you what is meant by Tares:  
2. What Christ intends in this his Answer: And 3. To accommodate the whole of it to our Use.  
First, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the greek word, is mentioned only in this place in the New Testament, and it is rarely to be found in other Authors, that its obscurity gives the occasion of variety in Translations of it; the Frencb render it Lolium darnel, and theophra. saith, That Corn doth sometime Loliescere, degenerate into Darnel.  
Diodate thinks it some particular Weed growing amongst Corn in that Country. Dr. Hammond translates it Cockle. Others give a more general Interpretation of it, as Mala Herba & planta semini noxia; we translate it Tares:  
By which may be understood Tyne, or a sort of Wild Fitches, which hath small fibrous Roots, and in twisting about the Roots of the Corn, sucks away its Nourishment, and hath claspers in the Branches, that fastening upon the Stalk, depresses it, and without greatest hazard to it, cannot be separated from it.  
Since in this Parable the Devil is the Sour of them, and the Tares are Wicked Men, in this Variety may be meant [as in our Marginal Notes] all noisome Weeds whatsoever that are noxious to the Corn, and particularly Infelix Lolium Darnel, which naturally disaffects the Head, and so may properly de●ote Men Erring in Judgement, or more rank and unsavoury Weeds, as Carlock, Mayweed, etc. which may properly describe Men Vicious in their Lives, such as walk disorderly; 'tis the unhappy Fate of the Church to be infested with them both. Infelix Lolium & steriles dominantur Avenae.  
But 2. What doth Christ mean in forbidding his Servants to gather these up, and in suffering their growth till the Harvest, which himself being the Expositor, is to the end of the World?  
First, Negatively, Christ is not to be interpreted in this, as if he were at all pleased with the growth of these Weeds.  
It would undoubtedly be most grateful to him to have only such pure Grain in his Field, as is fit to be gathered into his Barn, Beauxamis in locum, Docetur hic non quale sit officium nostrum, sed quae sit futura Ecclesiae conditio. We are advised here not so much in the Duty of the Servants, as in the Condition of the Field.  
Yet neither 2. doth Christ intend the least prohibition to the Magistrates Execution of Justice in punishing Malefactors.  
The Sword of Justice is not to be born in vain, Magistrates are to be a Terror to Evil Doers; in their rooting out them there can be no danger, but altogether safety to the Wheat; if they should be let alone, so as to proceed in impunity till the Harvest, the World would be but Magnum Lafoy▪ trocinium, or a Circean Stable; it would be an unclean Stage, where only Vice and Villainy would act its part; it would be like to that Field under the Curse of Job 31. 40. Thistles would grow instead of Wheat, and Cockle instead of Barley; or like Solomon's Field of the Sluggard, nothing would appear in it to denominate it a Field of Corn, but 'twould be all overgrown with Briars and Thorns.  
'Tis observable, Christ doth not say, Regna hujus Mundi, the Kingdom of this World, but Regnum Coeli, the Kingdom of Heaven; which is universally interpreted of the Church, and though in our Saviour's Exposition of it, 'tis styled the World, yet that is in respect to its Catholicism and Universality, as dispersed over the whole World; according to the Prophecies of it, it extends from Sea to Sea, and Christ sent his Disciples to all Nations, and the Apostle tells us, That their sound is gone into all the World; 'tis properly his Kingdom redeemed by his Blood, sanctified and enlightened by his Spirit, and will at last be presented to himself without spot and blemish.  
That this Parable is meant not of a Civil and Political, but of an Ecclesiastical Body, is generally agreed; but then still the Question returns, Whether our Saviour enters his Noli Pros— against Ecclesiastical Censures?  
To this 'tis answered 3. Negatively, That Christ here intends no Prohibition to Church Censures for the punishing of Offenders.  
St. Austin puts and determines this Case thus, Ipse Dominus cum servis volentibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 colligere dicit, sinite utraque crescere usque ad messem, premisit causam dicens, ne forte cum vultis colligere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eradicetis & triticum; ubi satis ostendit, tum metus iste non subest, non dormiat severitas disciplinae. Our Lord to the Servants appearing in readiness to gather the tares, requiring their growth together till the Harvest; he intimates the Cause, Lest with them ye root up also the Wheat: in evidence that when no danger of that, than the severity of Discipline is to take place. Of which at large in his Epistle contra Parmen. & contra Vincent.  
Christ himself decreed that he that would not hear the Church, should be as an Heathen or Publican, and the Apostles by unquestionable Authority gave Sentence of Excommunication upon the Incestuous Corinthian; 1 Cor. 5. 4. and upon Hymenus and Alexander, 1 Tim. 1. 20.  
The Church is not to be supposed an undisciplined Rout, divested of power necessary to its consistence; which it would be, if it were here or elsewhere, under prohibition of exercising its Censures.  
What then does our Saviour mean in his thus expressing himself in this case to the servants? To which positively,  
First in general, He expects patience, lenity, and tender caution, in eradicating those tares, he corrects the intemperate zeal of his Disciples, in whom he foresaw a disposition with improper and undue severities to prosecute offenders; of which they gave an early instance, in demanding fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans.  
The mind of Christ in this will be more particularly understood by considering his Sentence  
First, With respect to the Question, as put by the Servants, Wilt thou that we go and gather them up? And  
Secondly, With respect to his Reason, Why not? Lest while ye gather up the Tares, ye root up the Wheat also.  
Now in their Enquiry, Wilt thou that we go and gather them up? They signify their intent of a sudden and immediate dispatch of them without the exercise of due Patience, and necessary Consideration; thus,  
Chrisost. in Matth. interprets the Servants intending to prosecute Heretics with Fire and Sword, and saith, That if by his Negative they had not been obliged to alter their Resolutions, Bloodshed and War must have followed all over the World.  
The Word in the Original for gathering up, is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and signifies not so much a single Collection, as a Gathering them up in Bundles; they would at once have swept away these Tares by some devouring Judgement, like that of Fire from Heaven; to this their Proposition Christ enters his dissent, and though he well enough approved of the thing, yet by no means consented with them in the time and manner they would effect it, but gives check to that devouring Zeal that would destroy all Opposers; and doth intent first, that this gathering together, or rooting up, be rather gladio oris then o'er gladie; that no other Sword, than the Sword of the Spirit be used; that by Admonition by the Sword of the Spirit of Meekness they be rather restored; Christ determines against their immediate and utter destruction in that way they designed, lest in gathering them up, they root up the Wheat.  
The Sword though never so well edged, is an ill distinguisher between Wheat and Tares, and War the most improper Judge to determine Religious Controversies: 'Tis gladius delphicus, and strikes on both sides without difference to Men or their Doctrines; it involves the Innocent and the Guilty in the same Calamity; like those dreadful Thunderbolts, Minutius Faelix tells of, Sine delectu tangunt sacra & profana, hominis noxios feriunt & religiosos; they without distinction, strike places sacred and profane, and personsinnocent and nocent; but 'tis never more fatally devouring, than when in the hands of those in whom Glesselius one of the Antiremonstrants in Rotterdam placed it, who defined, That if the Prince or Clergy neglected the Reformation of a Church, Necesse est id facere plebeios licet ad sanguinem usque pro ea pugnent: That the Plebeians must Reform, though it be with a Resistance unto Blood.  
Theophylact makes the more Christian Comment upon the Text, who saith, God would not by War have the Tares pulled up, lest in so doing the Righteous suffer with the Wicked.  
Theophylact in Loc. saith, The Servants were so incensed and inflamed against these Tares upon their appearance in their Lord's Field 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to save the trouble of a dilatory Process, were resolved by a rash Execution to rid them from the troubles of this miserable and wretched Life.  
This return of our Lord to the Servants, if it be not a strict Prohibition of Capital Punishments, it is a severe Caution, that due care be had in inflicting it, lest the Wheat also be rooted up.  
'Tis certain the Primitive Christians did interpret Christ, in saying, He came to save men's lives, not to destroy them; and here in my Text, as entering not barely a Caveat, but a Prohibition of punishing with death upon the score of Religion.  
They reckoned such a Process foreign to the Temper and contradictory to the Rules of Christianity.  
It was once St. Austin's Opinion, Neminem ad unitatem Christi cogendum esse, That none were to be compelled to become Christians: And when the insolence of the Donatists made it necessary for him to alter his mind, yet as Bellarmin confesses, Semper excepit supplicium mortis; He always excepted punishment with death.  
If it had been thought lawful to punish Heresy with death, the Apologies of Tertullian and the Primitive Christians, would have been in a great part insignificant.  
'Tis a Modern Maxim in Christianity, but no where, that I can find, an Article of Faith, Posse Haereticos ab Ecclesia damnatos temporalibus poenis & etiam morte mulctari: That Herericks condemned by the Church, were by the Civil Magistrate to be sentenced to Temporal Punishment, yea to Death itself.  
It was Calvin's Opinion, Haereticos jure gladii coercendos; That Heretics were to be restrained by the Power of the Sword: Which Beza improves in his Tract, De Haereticis puniendis, where he lays down this Thesis, Haereticos interdum capitali supplicio a Magistratibus coercendos: That Heretics are to suffer Capital Punishment.  
This Question was better determined in the more early and purer Times of Christianity, as by Lactantius lib. 5. cap. 10. Defendendam esse religionem non occidendo sed moriendo. Religion is to be defended rather by the exposing our own, than violating the lives of others.  
Our Saviour here forbids their thus being gathered up, lest the Wheat be rooted up also; it being evident if the servants had gone in that Method, they had wronged the Harvest; for as St. Austin saith, Multi primo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt & postea triticum fiunt; fieri potest ut qui noxio dogmate depravatus est cras resipiscat & defendere potest veritatem: as St. Austin, once a Manichee, afterwards Malleus Hereticorum. Many at first appear tares, which afterwards become wheat; he that is depraved with Error now, may repent too morrow.  
Upon this saith St. Jerome, Monemur non cito amputare fratrem, not rashly to cut off a Brother, for they that are bad now, may be better hereafter; Nisi Deus expactaret impium, non haberet unde glorificaret pium; Had not God patiently expected the Repentance and Conversion of such whom Men would destroy, ad laudabilem mutationem non pervenissent, they had never attained to Saving Repentance.  
Had F●●e at the instance of the Disciples consumed the Samaritans, they had been prevented in their after receiving the Gospel; had not God's Patience given respite to the Tares after their first discovery, nec Mattheum de Publicano Evangelistam, nec Magdalenam de Meretrice penitentem habuisset; si Deus eradicasset Paulum persecuentem, non haberet Ecclesia Paulum praedicantem; Matthew of a Publican had never been an Evangelist, nor Magdalen the Harlot become Magdalen the Penitent; if Saul had been rooted out when he was a Persecutor, the Church would ever have wanted Paul the Apostle. The meaning of Christ in the Text than is, That they might have space for Repentance.  
St. Chrysost. affirms, That a Heretic, though he persists with obstinacy in his Heresy, yet is not to be Punished with Death, with whom Euthimius consents. Christ, saith he, in this Parable would not suffer the plucking up the Tares, lest the Wheat should be rooted up with them; forbidding the execution of Heretics, lest the Orthodox suffer with them.  
It was therefore an unchristian heat in Calvin, that sent Servetus to the Flames, and in the Swissers, that commanded the Execution of Valentine Gentilis at Bazil; and in Maximilian the Emperor in causing the Priscillianists to be put to death; though Sulpitius Severus saith of them, That they were homines luce indignissimi; yet he adds they were pessimo exemplo necati; though they were the worst of Men, yet their Execution was of dangerous Consequence. And when Alexius of Constantinople caused the Bongomili to be put to Death, who (if their Opinions were candidly represented) were sufficiently bad, yet the Eastern Bishops, disallowed of the Fact; and Baronius tells us, it was the ancient usuage of the Primitive Bishops in moving the Secular Power against Heretics, so to manage it, Vt tamen a capitali supplicio inferendo dehortati sunt.  
'Tis evident that Capital Punishment had its first rise from the Heathen and Arrian Emperors, and in that it was after returned by the Christians upon their Enemies; it was because the Man was too hard for the Christian.  
Thirdly, Tho it is more generally interpreted, that the Servants resolved by the abovementioned Severity, to cut them off from the body of Mankind, yet others, that they intended only to cut them from the Body of the Church; and Lyra and Gorran are of Opinion, That the Servants design to gather them up, was in such a way as was proper to the Church, Separando eos a Communione Ecclesiae, by separating them from Church Communion.  
Christ may probably here intend a caution and lenity in that direful and solemn Sentence of Exmunication, which is an Amputation or a cutting off from the Body of Christ; 'tis in the Name and Power of Christ, a delivery over unto Satan for the destruction of the Flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.  
In comport with the meaning of Christ here, it was an old Rule, Non Excommunicandam multitudinem, that a multitude were not to be Excommunicated.  
There was to be no gathering up in Bundles in this Life: the Church did only Legere, select one out of many Offenders, Vt paena ad paucos esset, metus ad omnes; tormenta paucorum exempla omnium: That the Punishment of a few, might be caution to all.  
Dr. Tailor in Dust. Dubitant, tells us, The Judgement of the Church in this Censure is an effective terrible Declaration of the Judgement of God, and therefore must not be exterminating and final for things of little concernment.  
The Second Canon of the Council at Worms, doth Decree, Vt Nullus sacerdotum, quanquam rectae fidei, homines, pro parvis & levibus causis suspendat: That no Priest, though never so sound in the Faith, may suspend Men from Church Communion for a light Cause.  
Dr. Tailor in his Dust. Dubitant. asserts, That no Man is to be separated from the Church, but he that separates himself from God; and tells us, That he who for a trifling cause cuts off a man from Church Communion, is like him in the Fable, who with an Axe beat out his Neighbour's brains, that he might brush off a fly, which he espied on his Forehead: or like an indiscreet and severe Nurse, that to clean the Child's head of the Dandruff, fleas off his Skin.  
All endeavours ought first to be used, that he may be restored with the Spirit of Meekness, that by Admonition and Reproof, to which the Scriptures are profitable, he may be reclaimed, and till it appears vulnus immedicabile, he is not with that severity to be cut off.  
Fourthly, The meaning of Christ may probably be, That in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Religion, such as are mentioned Rom. 14. in which the Kingdom of Heaven doth not consist, the obligation of Christians is to exercise Charity, mutual Condescension, and Forbearance one towards another.  
The Apostle there directs to the alloy of all Animosity and Discord about such things, and provides that there be no Censuring or Grieving one another, and to this purpose he allows a Liberty to Men of either Persuasion, informing us, That Christ died for both, and that God received both:  
The Controversy in these indifferent things, lies not between Wheat and Tares, but between Wheat and Wheat, and it may be is founded only because one grows in a more fertile Soil, and on a more Florid Stalk, or is of a brighter Complexion than the other.  
That the true Corn should thus go together by the Ears, we may be sure is assignable to the hand of an Enemy, and if our Lord permits the Concrescence of Tares and Wheat, much more that Wheat and Wheat grow together.  
'Tis as natural and usual for Christians to differ in their Sentiments in matters of that kind, as 'tis for Men to be of divers Statures and Complexions, wherefore (the Apostle telling us; That he who doubteth is damned if he eat) by Penalties to require a consent in one Opinion in things so indifferent, would be as hard as for one to thrust out his Neighbour's Eye, because not so strong and piercing as his own; and would be a barbarity exceeding that of Procrustes the Robber, who measured all men by his own bed, and would bring them to that dimension, either by a Rack or Defalcation, he only torturing the Bodies, while the other wounds the Consciences, and cruciates the Minds of Men.  
'Tis observable in this Parable, that the Servants entered their Complaint against such as appeared Tares, and it was for the rooting up of them they offered their service, to which our Saviour answered as in my Text, Nay, etc.  
If they had addressed to their Lord with their Censures of their Fellow Servants, and had signified an Inclination, because in every trifling punctilio they agreed not with the Complainants that therefore they would go and gather them up our Lord would have given them another kind of Answer.  
If the Pharisees were inexcusable in their neglect of the great things of the Law, through their Zeal in the lesser things of it, Christians are much more Criminal in violating the great Gospel Law of Charity and Meekness, upon the score of such things as are not at all required by any Divine Law.  
If it were inimicus homo that sowed those Tares that endangered the Wheat, certainly it is inimicissimus homo that would gather up the Wheat instead of Tares.  
'Tis here observable, that though the Tares appeared to the eyes of the Servants, yet our Saviour did not adventure the well-doing of his Field upon their hand, so as to allow their Eradication; if he had given any intimation of the Field, being committed to such a Conduct, as without possibility of being injurious to the Wheat, the Tares might be gathered up, the force of the reason of his Prohibition, Lest with them ye root up the Wheat, would be enervated.  
'Tis probable our Saviour designed the prevention of this, when he respited them till the Harvest, well knowing that they may then appear to be Children of the Kingdom, which through the passion or inadvertency of his Servants, would as Tares have been bundled up for the fire.  
Thirdly, In the Accommodation of all this to our use, though it may be indecent for me to insist too particularly on the Parallel between the State of the Field, and the Condition of the Church of Christ amongst us, so as to charge the growth of the Tares to the Supineness or any other default in the Servants, or to suggest, that those concerned in gathering the Tares, have not with the Servants of the Household consulted their Lord, nor taken their measures from him: Yet I shall adventure to give you the Judgements of such as are of great Honour and Authority upon this Subject; and shall close my Discourse with a Recommendation of the Example of the Servants to our Imitation.  
The Authorities of such as have given their Opinion in this Matter:  
The Lord Chancellor Hide his Speech to the Parliament 1660, is filled up with the Expressions of his Sense of this Case and Directions for its Cure.  
The Honourable and Pious Lord Chief Justice Hale, lamenting that the Cause of Love and Piety was hindered by our present Constitutions, did declare, That the only means to beal us, was a New Act of Uniformity, that should neither leave all at liberty, nor impose any thing but what was necessary: And with the Assistance of the Lord Keeper Bridgman and Bishop Wilkins, drew up the Form of a Bill to be tendered to the Parliament to that purpose.  
The Archbishop of Armagh, for the healing of Distractions, and for the return of a Wished for Peace and Unity, did contrive some prudent Accommodation necessary.  
Bishop Tailor in his Dust. Dubitant, expresses himself abundantly in this Case, as thus, with respect to our Condition he gives it as a Rule, That the Ecclesiastical Laws must be easy and charirable, and when they are not, they oblige not, and that Ecclesiastical Laws that are merely such, can't be universal and perpetual.  
Bishop Davenant in his Letter to Dureus saith, That which makes Schisms perptual, ist he exercise of a Tyrannical Power, so as not to acknowledge any for Brethren, or admit any to Communion with them, who will not receive from them, in any difference of Opinion, a Law both of believing and speaking.  
'Tis the determination of a Learned Doctor of our Church, That without Controversy, the main inlet of all the Distractions, Confusions, and Divisions, of the Christian World, is by adding other Conditions of Church Communion, than Christ hath done.  
Were it needful, I might fill a Volume with Quotations of this kind; but,  
I shall only instance in these which next to that in my Text, aught to be the greatest Authority with us.  
King James the First of Pious Memory, as Causabon in his Epistle to Cardinal Perron, informs us, Thought that for Concord there is no nearer way than diligently to separate things necessary from the unnecessary, and to bestow all our Labour, that we may agree in what is necessary, and that in what is not so, there may be Christian Liberty allowed.  
The Royal Martyr Charles the First of glorious Memory, in Consideration of the State of the Kingdom in 1641, speaks thus, As for Differences among ourselves for Matters in their own nature, that are indifferent concerning Religion, We shall willingly Comply, with the Advice of our Parliament, that some Law may be made for the exemption of Tender Consciences from Punishment or Prosecution for such Ceremonies, which by the judgement of most men are held to be matters indifferent, and of some, to be absolutely unlawful.  
The late King Charles the Second of blessed Memory, in his Declaration from Breda first, and in his Declaration for Indulgence to Tender Consciences afterwards, gave sufficient Evidence of his Concurrent Opinion with his Royal Progenitors.  
Thus it can't but be acknowledged, That some of the Wisest and most Learned, and the greatest of Men in these Three last Reigns, were affected with a sense of a Disease that the Church and Nation have been labouring under, and it appears that his Majesty's Royal Ancestors had it often in their Thoughts, and upon their Desires, that it might be healed.  
And as for our present Gracious Sovereign, that now wears the Imperial Crown, and sways the Royal Sceptre, whom God preserve; it appears that what was in the Heart of David his Father, hath a long time been upon the Heart, and now is upon the Hand of our Solomon his Son, and his Hand findeth to do it with all his Might: He like a Tender and Prudent Physician, experiencing the inefficacy and inconvenience of those corroding and acrimonious Applications, that have been too long used, thinks it proper, instead of that Salt and Vinegar, which hath only increased and inflamed our Wounds, to recommend the Lenitives of Oil and Balsam; most probably hoping, that the warm Beams of an Indulging Sun will prevail to the laying of that viciousness of Temper, which the rough and tempestuous Wind had occasioned.  
Our Healing Sovereign observing the Body Politic and Ecclesiastic, like the Man in the Gospel that fell among Thiefs, if not half dead, yet lying sorely wounded, like the Good Samaritan, is pouring in Oil and Wine, and while he is so, let not any of us be like him that passed by on the other side, as all together unconcerned, or like him that only vouchsafed to look, but offered nothing to relieve him in that distressed Case; but let us all to our Capacities help to the quenching those common Flames, and the allaying those threatening heats that have been so fatal to us, and contribute our utmost in this most Christian Service: some of us by Humility and Obedience, others of us by Compassion and Condescension, and all of us by our Prayers and Tears.  
Lastly, To this we must reckon ourselves obliged, by considering the Example of the Servants in the Text, In servis habemus tam quod laudemus quam quod imitemur: We have in the Servants both what is commendable and imitable.  
They cleared themselves from a treacherous betraying the Trust reposed in them, of the Field, by reporting to their Master the unexpected accident of the growth of the Tares; they being informed that an Enemy had done it, offered their service to redress the Mischief; that if the Enemy entered the Field by their Sloth, he might be expelled by their Zeal. St. Austin to that Inquiry, Who is that Man that is eaten up with Zeal to God's House? Answers, Qui omnia quae videt perversa satagit emendare: That if he sees the foundation of it too narrow and straight, will endeavour the enlargement of its basis to its due extent.  
If he perceives an inconvenience in the fence encompassing the Field, will consult such an Amendment of it as may neither keep out such as belong to Christ's Fold, nor suffer the wild Beast of the Field, nor the wild Boar of the Wood, neither Turk nor Pagan, to enter in. And that our Zeal in this, may not be an Ignis Fatuus to precipitate us into unsafe and dangerous Methods, that it may not be a feavorish heat, that invades the Health, and threatens the Life of that Body that cherishes it, but that it may be a Coal kindled at God's Altar, let us with the Servants in the Text, go to our Lord.  
So, first, not to be too much influenced by our Passions. Solomon tells us, Wrath is Cruel, Anger is outrageous, and nothing can stand before Envy, Pro. 27. 4.  
So as, secondly, Not to take our Measures from the Examples of others, to return to them in proportion to those undue severities which at any time have been received from them, the Rule of our Saviour, Is not to do to others as they do, but as we would have them do to ourselves.  
Let us therefore receive our Directions from Christ, and acquiesce in them, referring all to our Master's Will, and then proceed according to his Dictates, whose Service consists altogether in the following of his own Rules; for in so doing we shall most promote our Master's Honour, and be most serviceable to his Field the Church; and best provide, that when we shall be translated from our Stations in his Kingdom here, we may be made partakers of his Eternal Kingdom in Heaven; and in the mean time, God in his infinite Mercy, so direct the Counsels and Influence the Hearts of Men, that the Tares which at the Harvest shall be gathered, may not in the mean time be able either to suppress the Wheat, or destroy the Field; and that our Lord Jesus, who loved his Church, and gave himself for it, may Sanctify and Cleanse it, and at last present it to Himself a Glorious Church without spot or blemish. To Him, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all Honour, Glory, and Praise, both now and for evermore.  
Amen.  
FINIS.