ally promulgated by the Council of
Ancyre, we must observe that it was issued in the second century, when
the principal attention of the Church was directed to the destruction
of paganism. For this reason, it condemns that class of women who said
they could pass through the air, and over immense regions, with Diana
and Herodias, and enjoins all preachers to teach the falsehood of such
an opinion, in order to deter people from the worship of these false
divinities; but it does not question the power of the devil over the
human body, which is, in fact, proved by the Holy Gospel of Jesus
Christ himself. And with regard, Sire, to the pretended passage of St.
Augustin, everybody knows that it was not written by him, because the
writer, whoever he was, cites Boetius, who died more than eighty years
after the time of St. Augustin. Besides, there is still more convincing
proof in the fact, that the same father establishes the truth of
witchcraft in all his writings, and more particularly in his 'City of
God;' and in his first volume, question the 25th, wherein he states
that sorcery is a communion between man and the devil, which all good
Christians ought to look upon with horror.

"Taking all these things into consideration, Sire, the officers of your
Parliament hope, from the justice of your Majesty, that you will be
graciously pleased to receive the humble remonstrances they have taken
the liberty to make. They are compelled, for the acquittal of their own
consciences and in discharge of their duty, to make known to your
Majesty, that the decrees they passed against the sorcerers and witches
brought before them, were passed after a mature deliberation on the
part of all the judges present, and that nothing has been done therein
which is not conformable to the universal jurisprudence of the kingdom,
and for the general welfare of your Majesty's subjects, of whom there
is not one who can say that he is secure from the malevolence of such
criminals. We therefore supplicate your Majesty to suffer us to carry
into effect the sentences we passed, and to proceed with the trial of
the other persons accused of the same crime; and that the piety of your
Majesty will not suffer to be introduced during your reign an opinion
contrary to the principles of that holy religion for which you have
always employed so gloriously both your cares and your arms."

Louis, as we have already mentioned, paid no attention to this appeal.
The lives of