Sortes biblicae ('biblical lots') is a method of divination where by the Bible is openly randomly and the first words which one sees are interpreted as predictive. The practice was common in late antiquity and had pagan precedents in the Sortes Homericae and Sortes Vergilianae. It was nevertheless condemned by numerous church councils, including in Gaul alone by those of (465), Agde (506) and Orléans (511). The sortes biblicae, widely practiced in the early Middle Ages, declined after the year 1000. In modern times, John Wesley is known to have treated the sortes biblicae seriously.