51. This mode of divination, by accepting as an omen the
first sacred words which in particular circumstances should
be presented to the eye or ear, was derived from the Pagans;
and the Psalter or Bible was substituted to the poems of
Homer and Virgil. From the fourth to the fourteenth century,
these 'sortes sanctorum', as they are styled, were
repeatedly condemned by the decrees of councils, and
repeatedly practised by kings, bishops, and saints. See a
curious dissertation of the Abbe du Resnel, in the Memoires
de l'Academie, tom. xix. p. 287-310