Bibliomancy (JiifiXlov, uavrda), divination (q. v.) by means of the Bible; sometimes called, also, 8ortes biblical or sortes sacrat. It consisted in taking passages of Scripture at hazard, and drawing thence. indications of future things. It was used occasionally in the consecration of bishops, and was evidently bor- rowed from the heathen, who were accustomed to draw prognostications from the works of Homer and Virgil. We find the practice condemned by several councils, and the persons adopting it were ordered to be put out of the < linrch. But in the 12th century it was so far encouraged as to be employed in the detection of her- etics. In the Gallican Church it was long used in the election of bishops; children being employed on be- balf of each candidate to draw slips of paper with texts on them, and that, which was thought most favorable decided the choice. In the Greek church we find the prevalence of this custom at the time of the consecra- tion of Atlianasius, on whose behalf the presiding prel- ate) Caracalla, archbishop of Nicomedia, opened the Go | Is on the words, " For the devil and liis angels." The bishop of Nicaea saw them, and adroitly turned over to another verse, which was instantly read aloud, "The birds of the air came and lodged in the branch- es thereof." Bui this passage Beeming irrelevant, the former became gradually known, and the result ap- peared in considerable agitation-, and fatal divisions.
A Bpecies of bibliomancy in use among the Jews ! in appealing to the very first words heard from any ono reading the Scriptures, and regarding th.a,, as a voice from heaven. The following is an in- Btance : Babbi A.cher, having committed many crimes, was led into thirteen synagogues ; iii each synagogue
a disciple was interrogated, and the verse he read was examined. In the tirst school the following words of the prophet Isaiah were read : " There is no peace unto the wicked" (Isa. xlviii, 22); in another, these words of the Psalmist : " Unto the wicked, God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth ?" (Psa. 1, 16). Sim- ilar sentences being heard in all the synagogues against Acher, it was concluded that he was hated by God! (Basnagc's Hist, of the Jews, p. 1C5). See Bath-Kol.
In former times, among the common people in Eng- land and Scotland, the Bible was consulted on New Year's day with special formality, each member of the house, before he had partaken of food, walking up to it, opening it, and placing his finger at random on a verse — that verse declaring his fortune for the next twelve months. The Bible, with a sixpence inserted into the book of Euth, was placed under the pillows of young people, to give them dreams of matrimonial divination. In some parts of Scotland the sick were fanned with the leaves of the Bible, and a Bible was put under the head of women after childbirth, and into the cradle of new-born children. A Bible and key were sometimes employed to detect a thief; nay, more than all, a sus- pected witch was taken to church, and weighed against the great church Bible. If she outweighed the Bible, she was acquitted ; but if the Bible outweighed her, she was condemned (Brand's Popular Antiqu'ties, iii, 2"2). Some well-meaning people among Protestants practise a kind of bibliomancy in order to determine I the state of their souls or the path of duty. It prevail- ed among the Moravians, along with the use of lots ; and John Wesley sometimes made use of it. But the Word of God was never meant to operate as a charm, nor to be employed as. a lot-book. It can only truly guide and edify when rightly and consistently under- I stood. See Bingham, One/. Eccles. bk. xvi, ch. iv, § 3; Buck, Tkeol. Diet. s. v. ; Eadie, Eccles. Diet. s. v. ; Wes- ley, Works, v, 316, 318.
Bibliotheca Maxima Patrum. See Bieli- otheca Patrum.
Bibliotheca Patrum, a collection of the work3 of the early ecclesiastical writers.
(I.) The title was first applied to the work which originated with M. cle la Bir/ne, who formed the idea of a collection of the fathers with a viewr of opposing the doctrines of the French Protestants. This scheme met with the approbation of his superiors in the Sor- bonne, and the first eight volumes appeared at Paris in 1575, and the 9th in 1579. It is entitled Biblio- theca Veterum Patrum ef Antiquorum Scriplorum Ecele- siasticorum Eatine, and it contained about 200 writers. The 2d ed., somewhat improved, was published at Paris in 1589, 9 vols. fol. The 3d cd. (Paris, 1609, 11 vols, fol.) has the addition of an Auctuarium. In these edi- tions the writers are classed according to subjects. The -1th cd., or, rather, a new work by the professors of Cologne, has the writers arranged in chronological order. It was printed at Cologne 1608, in 14 vols, fol., to which in 1622 a supplement in one vol. was added. The 5th ed. (or 4th of De la Bigne) was published at Paris in 162-1, in 10 vols, fol., with the addition of an Auctuarium Grceco-Latlnum compiled by Le Due (the Jesuit Pronto Ducceus), and in 1629 a Supplement/an La- tinum in two vols, was added. The 6th ed. (or 5th of De la Bigne), printed at Paris in 1634, in 17 vols, fol., contains the preceding, with the . 1 uctuarium and Sup- ph ,m ii'iiiii incorporated. The 7th ed. in 1654 is mere- ly a reprint of the last.