[ CLIII] Excellency of the Robe of Iustice.
THere is a story of a certain old woman in the Low-Countries,* 1.1 that she being neer her end, required her keeper, of all loves, and in any case, to put upon her the Cowle of a Fryer Minorite, (when she should be ready to give up the ghost) which she had prepared for that purpose: And (said she) if death happen to come so suddainly, that thou canst not put the whole Cowle upon me, yet fail not at the least, to put one of my arms into it, that by vertue thereof, three parts of my sins may be forgiven me, and the fourth expiated in Purgatory. Thus Me∣teranus, of the old wifes perswasion touching the vertue of the ••ryer's Cowle; which perswasion, superstition bred, covetousnesse tendered, and folly entertained. It cannot be said so of the vertue of the Robe of Iustice, of Equity, and square dea∣ling, whether distributive or commutative, private or publick, (though all very good) that they should have power to forgive sins;* 1.2 no, The blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth from all sins. But this may be boldly said, that it is an excellent Robe and a Diadem, such a one that yieldeth a sweet savour unto the nostrills of God, as Esau's garment upon Iacob's back did to Isaac their father.* 1.3 Of all the garments you can put on, after Faith and Love, there is none to be compared to it. Courtiers may have soft cloathing••,* 1.4 a garment of needle-work is onely for the Queen's wearing, garments of divers colours are suitable for King's Daughters;* 1.5 and there was a Babylo∣nish garment,* 1.6 which Achan purloyned to his destruction;* 1.7 Herod's glittering apparell, mentioned by Iosephus, garments of gold and silver,* 1.8 at which Dionysius jested, That they were too cold in the winter, and too heavy in the summer: Perfumed garments, such as were the undoing of Muliasses King of Tunis;* 1.9 as Paulus Iovius relateth. These were for some persons, but not for others; for some certain times, but not for all. But Iustice is a ro••e for all sorts of men to put on, for all times of the year; sweet without fulsomnesse, pretious without burthensomnesse, safe without dange∣rousnesse, indifferent to all degrees, to all persons; common, equall, glorious, full of majesty, and full of good works.