This behavior will result when you’re using PHP v 5.3.0 and earlier, as the include plugin requires features added in PHP 5.4.0. Reminder: the current PHP version is 7.0.18, it may be time to try out a newer version if your server will allow you to update.
In order to continue to use both the Include plugin and php v < 5.4.0 you’ll have to roll back to Include 3.4.41 (https://downloads.www.ads-software.com/plugin/include.3.4.41.zip)
I have changed the plugin to have it perform checks for the required PHP version and known php setting conflicts, and display an admin notice instead of erroring and taking down the site it’s running on.
This should resolve the “Breaks the site” aspect of this issue, and I will be marking this issue as resolved.