ect of the two principles.]

The apostolic labors of Constantine Sylvanus soon multiplied the number
of his disciples, the secret recompense of spiritual ambition. The
remnant of the Gnostic sects, and especially the Manichaeans of Armenia,
were united under his standard; many Catholics were converted or seduced
by his arguments; and he preached with success in the regions of Pontus
[10] and Cappadocia, which had long since imbibed the religion of
Zoroaster. The Paulician teachers were distinguished only by their
Scriptural names, by the modest title of Fellow-pilgrims, by the
austerity of their lives, their zeal or knowledge, and the credit of
some extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit. But they were incapable
of desiring, or at least of obtaining, the wealth and honors of the
Catholic prelacy; such anti-Christian pride they bitterly censured; and
even the rank of elders or presbyters was condemned as an institution of
the Jewish synagogue. The new sect was loosely spread over the provinces
of Asia Minor to the westward of the Euphrates; six of their principal
congregations represented the churches to which St. Paul had addressed
his epistles; and their founder chose his residence in the neighborhood
of Colonia, [11] in the same district of Pontus which had been
celebrated by the altars of Bellona [12] and the miracles of Gregory.
[13] After a mission of twenty-seven years, Sylvanus, who had retired
from the tolerating government of the Arabs, fell a sacrifice to Roman
persecution. The laws of the pious emperors, which seldom touched the
lives of less odious heretics, proscribed without mercy or disguise the
tenets, the books, and the persons of the Montanists and Manichaeans:
the books were delivered to the flames; and all who should presume to
secrete such writings, or to profess such opinions, were devoted to an
ignominious death. [14] A Greek minister, armed with legal and military
powers, appeared at Colonia to strike the shepherd, and to reclaim, if
possible, the lost sheep. By a refinement of cruelty, Simeon placed the
unfortunate Sylvanus before a line of his disciples, who were commanded,
as the price of their pardon and the proof of their repentance, to
massacre their spiritual father. They turned aside from the impious
office; the stones dropped from their filial hands, and of the whole
number, only one executioner could be found, a new David, as he is
styled by the Catholics, who boldly overthrew the giant