The ancient _Sortilegium_, or divination by means of _Sortes_ or lots--an art and practice now decried by the clergy as an abomination, designated by _Stat. 10 Jac._ as felony,[28] and by _Stat. 12 Carolus II._ excepted out of the general pardons, on the ground of being _sorcery_--was widely practiced by the clergy and monks. Nay, it was sanctioned by St. Augustine himself, who does not “disapprove of this method of learning futurity, provided it be not used for worldly purposes.” More than that, he confesses having practiced it himself.[29] Aye; but the clergy called it _Sortes Sanctorum_, when it was they who practiced it; while the _Sortes Prænestinæ_, succeeded by the _Sortes Homericæ_ and _Sortes Virgilianæ_, were abominable _heathenism_, the worship of the Devil, when used by any one else. Gregory de Tours informs us that when the clergy resorted to the _Sortes_ their custom was to lay the _Bible_ on the altar, and to pray the Lord that He would discover His will, and disclose to them futurity in one of the verses of the book. Gilbert de Nogent writes that in his days (about the twelfth century) the custom was, at the consecration of bishops, to consult the _Sortes Sanctorum_, to thereby learn the success and fate of the episcopate. On the other hand, we are told that the _Sortes Sanctorum_ were condemned by the Council of Agda, in 506. In this case again we are left to inquire, in which instance has the infallibility of the Church failed? Was it when she prohibited that which was practiced by her greatest saint and patron, Augustine, or in the twelfth century, when it was openly and with the sanction of the same Church practiced by the clergy for the benefit of the bishop’s elections? Or, must we still believe that in both of these contradictory cases the Vatican was inspired by the direct “spirit of God?” If any doubt that Gregory of Tours approved of a practice that prevails to this day, more or less, even among strict Protestants, let them read this: “Lendastus, Earl of Tours, who was for ruining me with Queen Fredegonde, coming to Tours, big with evil designs against me, I withdrew to my oratory under a deep concern, where I took the _Psalms_.... My heart revived within me when I cast my eyes on this of the seventy-seventh _Psalm_: ‘He caused them to go on with confidence, whilst the sea swallowed up their enemies.’ Accordingly, the count spoke not a word to my prejudice; and leaving Tours that very day, the boat in which he was, sunk in a storm, but his skill in swimming saved him.”