[Sidenote: Also of the seventeenth law, that the arbiters must receive no reward for their sentence.] 17. But that the judge or arbiter must receive no reward for his sentence, which is the seventeenth law appears, Exod. xxiii. 8: _Thou shalt take no gift; for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous._ Ecclesiasticus xx. 29: _Presents and gifts blind the eyes of the wise._ Whence it follows, that he must not be more obliged to one part than the other; which is the nineteenth law; and is also confirmed, Deut. i. 17: _Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, ye shall hear the small as well as the great_; and in all those places which are brought against respect of persons. [Sidenote: Also of the eighteenth, concerning witnesses.] 18. That in the judgment of fact witnesses must be had, which is the eighteenth law, the Scripture not only confirms, but requires more than one. Deut. xvii. 6: _At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death._ The same is repeated Deut. xix. 15. [Sidenote: Also of the twentieth law, against drunkenness.] 19. Drunkenness, which we have therefore in the last place numbered among the breaches of the natural law, because it hinders the use of right reason, is also forbid in Sacred Scripture for the same reason. Prov. xx. 1: _Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise._ And Prov. xxxi. 4, 5: _It is not for kings to drink wine, lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted._ But that we might know that the malice of this vice consisted not formally in the quantity of the drink, but in that it destroys judgment and reason, it follows in the next verse: _Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be heavy of heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more._ Christ useth the same reason in prohibiting drunkenness (Luke xxi. 34): _Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness._ [Sidenote: Also in respect of that which hath been said, that the law of nature is eternal.] 20. That we said in the foregoing chapter, the law of nature is eternal, is also proved out of Matth. v. 18: _Verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law_; and Psalm cxix. 160: _Every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever._ [Sidenote: Also that the laws of nature do pertain to conscience.]