So much for the mysteries of Paganism; however, we shall, in the course of this work, refer to them several times. Let us now examine the origin of the mysteries, which, the Partialists say, Jesus Christ has taught. Mysteries suppose secrecy; but Jesus Christ preached his Gospel in the open air to his apostles, to his disciples, to crowds of people, and to all who were willing to hear his doctrines. He urged upon his disciples to preach above the roofs what he taught them. When, after his death, his apostles spread his gospel, they spoke in open air, everywhere, to masses of people; Paul to the Areopagus, to thousands in Jerusalem, etc. How then can it be supposed that Jesus Christ taught mysteries? Indeed, he did not, but afterwards several Christian churches did. The Protestant historian, Mosheim, cites in his History of the Church, several authors, who state, that, in the second century, several Christian churches imitated the mysteries of Paganism. The profound respect, they say, that the people entertained for those mysteries, and the extraordinary sacredness ascribed to them were for the Christians a motive sufficient to give a mysterious appearance to their religion, so as to command as much respect to the public as the religion of the Pagans. To this effect they called mysteries the institutions of the Gospel, particularly the Eucharist. They used in this ceremony, and in that of baptism, several words and rites consecrated in the mysteries of the Pagans. This abuse commenced in Orient, chiefly in Egypt; Clement of Alexandria, in the beginning of the third century, was one of those who contributed the most to this innovation, which then spread in Occident when Adrian had introduced the mysteries in that portion of the Empire. Hence, a large portion of the service of the Church hardly differed from that of Paganism. That the Church of Rome copied many of the ceremonies, rites, customs, and fables of Pagan mysteries is certain, for they have been perpetuated in that Church down to our days. From the Pagan mysteries the Roman Church borrowed the following: In the initiation to the Pagan mysteries there were degrees; so in the Roman Church there are the degrees of porter or door-keeper, of acolyte, of reader and of exorcist; the latter degree confers the power of expelling the devil. The ecclesiastical ornaments in the Church of Rome, with the difference of the cross represented on them and of some trimming, are like those used in the mysteries of the Pagans, at least in Rome, and in Greece. The long floating gown, the girdle, the casula, the stola, the dalmatica, the round and pyramidal cap, the capa, and several other garments and ornaments, are alike to those used in the temples, where the mysteries of the Pagans were celebrated.