The second part of The nonconformists plea for peace being an account of their…

P. 144. The custom of supreme Princes swearing to govern by Laws was very ancient—And indeed abstracting from the Oath and promise, Kings are bound by natural justice and equity to do so: For they are not Kings unless they govern; and they cannot expect obedience unless they tell the measures by which they will be obeyed; and these measures cannot be any thing but Laws;—Now this is the natural way of all good government. There is no other: And to govern otherwise is as unnatural as to give children meat at their ears, and hold looking-glasses at their elbows that they may see their faces. If Kings be not bound to govern their people by their Laws, why are they made? by what else can they be governed? By the will of the Prince?—The Laws are so: Only he hath declared his will and made it regular and certain, and such as wise men can walk by, that the Prince may not Govern as fools Govern.]

P. 144. The custome of supreme Princes swearing to govern by Laws was very ancient—And indeed abstracting from the Oath and promise, Kings are bound by natural justice and equity to do so: For they are not Kings unless they govern; and they cannot expect obedience unless they tell the mesaures by which they will be obeyed; and these measures cannot be any thing but Laws;—Now this is the natural way of all good government. There is no other: And to govern otherwise is as unnatural as to give children meat at their ears, and hold looking-glasses at their elbows that they may see their faces. If Kings be not bound to govern their people by their Laws, why are they made? by what else can they be governed? By the will of the Prince?—The Laws are so: Only he hath declared his will and made it regular and certain, and such as wise men can walk by, that the Prince may not Govern as fools Govern.]

Of Church Government and Ceremonies and Subscriptions, the same Author, ibid.

§. 14. Lib. 3. c. 4. p. 217. [The use of the Keys differeth from proper jurisdiction in this great thing, that if the Keys be rightly used, they do bind or loose respectively; but if they err they do nothing on the subject; they neither bind nor loose. In proper jurisdiction it is otherwise: for right or wrong if a man be condemned he shall die for it; and if he be hanged he is hanged: But the Church gives nothing but the sentence of God, and tells upon what terms God will or will not pardon. If the Priest minister rightly, and judge according to the will and Laws of God, the subject shall find that sentence made good in heaven by the real events of the other world:—But if the priest be deceived, he is deceived for himself and no body else—He alters nothing of the state of the Soul by his quick absolution or unreasonable binding. The power of remitting sins given to the Church is nothing but an authority to minister that pardon which God gives by Jesus Christ—Ecclesiastical authority is a power of Jurisdiction, just as Excommunication is a Sword. But so is the word of God sharper than a two-edged sword, and so is a severe reproof— But how little there is of proper jurisdiction in excommunication we can demonstrate but by too good an argument (citing many instances of its uneffectualness) —Only the obstinate and incorrigible are to be proceeded against by that extreme remedy: And to them who need that extreme it is no remedy: for they that need it care not for it, and what compulsion then