THe shortest Preface will be an unseason­able Remora to my Entry into that Spacious Field in which my Text in­gages my travel; it being by the most Divine Expositor, with respect to its Extent, styl'd 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 tho Christ himself the Seedsman, tho he sows only the good seed of Pure and Divine Doctrine, yet when the [Page 2] blade springs up, the tares also appear: Tho the Church is styl'd 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 Chaffe, and of the Net inclosing Fishes good and bad.

To this purpose St. Austine 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 intermix'd in this World, that they are not to be separated till the Day of Judgment.

This from all that make common Observation, commands such an universal acknowledgment, that I shall not waste the time in offering further en­largment upon it; only from it observe the Ʋnac­accountableness [Page 3] 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 Catholick Church. Denominatio sit a nobiliori; and 'tis one, tho 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. Austine, 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 inquiring in this un­easie, and to them unexpected Case, Wilt thou that we go and gather them up? In answer to this their demand, he said, Nay, &c.

[Page 4] 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, &c.

And of the Positive, why suffer'd 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, &c.

In my procedure upon this, I shall endeavour first to shew 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 men­tion'd 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 Theophrast. saith, That Corn doth sometime Lo­liescere, degenerate into Darnel.

Diodate thinks it some particular Weed grow­ing amongst Corn in that Countrey. Dr. Ham­mond translates it Cockle. Others give a more general Interpretation of it, as Mala Herba & planta semini noxia; we translate it Tares:

[Page 5] 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 Sower 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 Judgment, or more rank and unsavoury Weeds, as Carlock, May­weed, &c. 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 pleas'd with the growth of these Weeds.

[Page 6] 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 Terrour 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 La▪ trocinium, or a Circean Stable; it would be an un­clean Stage, where only Vice and Villany 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 Barly; or like Solomons Field of the Sluggard, nothing would appear in it to denominate it a Field of Corn, but 'twould be all over-grown with Briars and Thorns.

'Tis observable, Christ doth not say, Regna hujus Mundi, the Kingdom of this World, but [Page 7] Regnum Coeli, the Kingdom of Heaven; which is universally interpreted of the Church, and tho in our Saviours Exposition of it, 'tis styl'd the World, yet that is in respect to its Catholicism and Ʋniversality, as dispers'd over the whole World; according to the Prophesies 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 redeem'd 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 answer'd 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 utra (que) crescere us (que) 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 [Page 8] 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, then 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 undisci­plin'd 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 do's 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 [Page 9] 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 signifie 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 Hereticks 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 Judgment, like that of Fire from Heaven; to this their Proposition Christ enters his dissent, and tho he well enough approv'd of the thing, yet by no means consented with them in the time and manner they would effect it, but [Page 10] gives check to that devouring Zeal that would destroy all Opposers; and doth intend first, that this gathering together, or rooting up, be rather gladio oris then ore gladie; that no o­ther Sword, then the Sword of the Spirit be used; that by Admonition by the Sword of the Spirit of Meekness they be rather restor'd; Christ determines against their immediate and utter de­struction in that way they design'd, lest in gather­ing them up, they root up the Wheat.

The Sword tho never so well edg'd, 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 Anti-remonstrants in Roterdam plac'd it, who de­fin'd, That if the Prince or Clergy neglected the Reformation of a Church, Necesse est id facere ple­beios licet ad sanguinem us (que) pro ea pugnent: That [Page 11] the Plebeians must Reform, tho 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 pull'd up, lest in so doing the Righteous suffer with the Wicked.

Theophylact in Loc. saith, The Servants were so incens'd and inflam'd against these Tares upon their appearance in their Lords 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 mens lives, not to destroy them; and here in my Text, as en­tring not barely a Caveat, but a Prohibition of punishing with death upon the score of Religion.

They reckon'd 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 [Page 12] 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 Heresie with death, the Apologies of Tertullian and the Primitive Christians, would have been in a great part insignificant.

'Tis a Modern Maxime 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 it self.

It was Calvin's Opinion, Haereticos jure gladii coercendos; That Hereticks were to be restrain'd 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 Hereticks are to suffer Capital Punishment.

This Question was better determin'd 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 [Page 13] 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 wrong'd the Harvest; for as St. Austine 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 Gods Patience given respite to the Tares after their first [Page 14] 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 then is, That they might have space for Repentance.

St. Chrysost. affirms, That a Heretick, tho he persists with obstinacy in his Heresie, yet is not to be Punish'd 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 Hereticks, lest the Orthodox suffer with them.

It was therefore an unchristian heat in Calvin, that sent Servetus to the Flames, and in the Swit­zers, that commanded the Execution of Valentine Gentilis at Bazil; and in Maximilian the Empe­rour in causing the Priscillianists to be put to death; tho Sulpitius Severus saith of them, That they were homines luce indignissimi; yet he adds they were pessimo exemplo necati; tho they were [Page 15] 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, disallow'd of the Fact; and Baronius tells us, it was the ancient usuage of the Primitive Bishops in moving the Secular Power against He­reticks, so to manage it, Ʋt tamen a capitali sup­plicio inferendo dehortati sunt.

'Tis evident that Capital Punishment had its first rise from the Heathen and Arrian Emperours, and in that it was after return'd 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 above-menti­oned 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, [Page 16] 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, Ʋt paena ad paucos esset, metus ad omnes; tormenta paucorum exem­pla omnium: That the Punishment of a few, might be caution to all.

Dr. Taylor in Duct. Dubitant, tells us, The Judg­ment of the Church in this Censure is an effective ter­rible Declaration of the Judgment 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, Ʋt Nullus sacerdotum, quanquam re­ctae fidei, homines, pro parvis & levibus causis su­spendat: That no Priest, tho never so sound in the Faith, may suspend Men from Church Com­munion for a light Cause.

[Page 17] Dr. Taylor in his Duct. 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 Neighbours brains, that he might brush off a fly, which he espied on his Fore-head: or like an indiscreet and severe Nurse, that to clean the Childs head of the Dandruff, fleas off his Skin.

All endeavours ought first to be us'd, that he may be restor'd with the Spirit of Meekness, that by Admonition and Reproof, to which the Scrip­tures are profitable, he may be reclaim'd, 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 mention'd 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 Perswasion, informing us, [Page 18] That Christ died for both, and that God receiv'd both:

The Controversie 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 Soyl, 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 Neighbours 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.

[Page 19] 'Tis observeable in this Parable, that the Ser­vants entred their Complaint against such as ap­pear'd Tares, and it was for the rooting up of them they offer'd their service, to which our Sa­viour answer'd as in my Text, Nay, &c.

If they had address'd 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 inexcuseable 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 sow'd those Tares that endanger'd the Wheat, certainly it is inimicis­simus homo that would gather up the VVheat in­stead of Tares.

'Tis here observeable, that tho the Tares ap­peared to the eys of the Servants, yet our Saviour did not adventure the well-doing of his Field up­on their hand, so as to allow their Eradication; [Page 20] if he had given any intimation of the Field, being committed to such a Conduct, as without possi­bility of being injurious to the VVheat, the Tares might be gathered up, the force of the reason of his Prohibition, Lest with them ye root up the VVheat, would be enervated.

'Tis probable our Saviour design'd 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 concern'd in gathering the Tares, have not with the Servants of the Houshold consulted their Lord, nor taken their measures from him: Yet I shall adventure to give you the Judgments 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.

[Page 21] The Authorities of such as have given their O­pinion in this Matter:

The Lord Chancellor Hide his Speech to the Parliament 1660, is fill'd 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 hindred by our present Constitutions, did declare, That the only means to beal us, was a New Act of Ʋniformity, 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 tendred to the Parliament to that pur­pose.

The Arch-bishop of Armagh, for the healing of Distractions, and for the return of a Wished for Peace and Ʋnity, did contrive some prudent Ac­commodation necessary.

Bishop Taylor in his Duct. 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 easie and chari­rable, and when they are not, they oblige not, and that Ecclesiastical Laws that are meerly such, can't be universal and perpetual.

[Page 22] 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 Controversie, 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, ought 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 allow'd.

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 our selves for Matters in their own [Page 23] 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 judgment 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 acknowledg'd, 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 Majesties Royal Ancestors had it often in their Thoughts, and upon their Desires, that it might be heal'd.

And as for our present Gracious Soveraign, 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, [Page 24] 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 us'd, thinks it proper, instead of that Salt and Vinegar, which hath only in­creas'd and inflam'd our Wounds, to recom­mend the Lenitives of Oyl 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 occasion'd.

Our Healing Soveraign observing the Body Politick and Ecclesiastick, like the Man in the Gospel that fell among Thieves, if not half dead, yet lying sorely wounded, like the Good Sama­ritan, is pouring in Oyl 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 unconcern'd, or like him that only vouchsaf'd to look, but offer'd 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 threatning heats that have been so fatal to us, and contribute our utmost in this most Christian Service: some of us by Humility [Page 25] and Obedience, others of us by Compassion and Condescension, and all of us by our Prayers and Tears.

Lastly, To this we must reckon our selves o­blig'd, 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 repos'd in them, of the Field, by reporting to their Master the unexpected ac­cident of the growth of the Tares; they being in­form'd that an Enemy had done it, offer'd their service to redress the Mischief; that if the Enemy entred the Field by their Sloth, he might be ex­pell'd by their Zeal. St. Austin to that Inquiry, Who is that Man that is eaten up with Zeal to Gods House? Answers, Qui omnia quae videt per­versa satagit emendare: That if he sees the founda­tion of it too narrow and strait, will endeavour the inlargement of its basis to its due extent.

If he perceives an inconvenience in the fense incompassing the Field, will consult such an A­mendment of it as may neither keep out such as belong to Christs 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 [Page 26] 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 Gods Altar, let us with the Servants in the Text, go to our Lord.

So, first, not to be too much influenc'd by our Passions. Solomon tells us, Wrath is Cruel, Anger is outragious, 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 our selves.

Let us therefore receive our Directions from Christ, and acquiesce in them, referring all to our Masters 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 Masters Honour, and be most servicable 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 [Page 27] 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.