See here, 1. What an evil thing bribery is: He is a wicked man that
will take a gift to engage him to give a false testimony, verdict, or
judgment; when he does it he is ashamed of it, for he takes it, with
all the secresy imaginable, out of the bosom where he knows it is laid
ready for him; it is industriously concealed, and so slyly that, if he
could, he would hide it from his own conscience. A gift is taken out of
the bosom of a wicked man (so some read it); for he is a bad man that
gives bribes, as well as he that takes them. 2. What a powerful thing
it is. It is of such force that it perverts the ways of judgment. The
course of justice is not only obstructed, but turned into injustice;
and the greatest wrongs are done under colour of doing right.