[44] For a vivid account of the spread of the Mysteries of Isis and Mithra over the Roman Empire, see _Roman Life from Nero to Aurelius_, by Dill (bk. iv, chaps. v-vi). Franz Cumont is the great authority on Mithra, and his _Mysteries of Mithra_ and _Oriental Religions_ trace the origin and influence of that cult with accuracy, insight, and charm. W.W. Reade, brother of Charles Reade the novelist, left a study of _The Veil of Isis, or Mysteries of the Druids_, finding in the vestiges of Druidism "the Emblems of Masonry." [45] Col. 2:8-19. See _Mysteries Pagan and Christian_, by C. Cheethan; also _Monumental Christianity_, by Lundy, especially chapter on "The Discipline of the Secret." For a full discussion of the attitude of St. Paul, see _St. Paul and the Mystery-Religions_, by Kennedy, a work of fine scholarship. That Christianity had its esoteric is plain--as it was natural--from the writings of the Fathers, including Origen, Cyril, Basil, Gregory, Ambrose, Augustine, and others. Chrysostom often uses the word _initiation_ in respect of Christian teaching, while Tertullian denounces the pagan mysteries as counterfeit imitations by Satan of the Christian secret rites and teachings: "He also baptises those who believe in him, and promises that they shall come forth, cleansed of their sins." Other Christian writers were more tolerant, finding in Christ the answer to the aspiration uttered in the Mysteries; and therein, it may be, they were right. [46] _Phaedo._ THE SECRET DOCTRINE /# _The value of man does not consist in the truth which he possesses, or means to possess, but in the sincere pain which he hath taken to find it out. For his powers do not augment by possessing truth, but by investigating it, wherein consists his only perfectibility. Possession lulls the energy of man, and makes him idle and proud. If God held inclosed in his right hand absolute truth, and in his left only the inward lively impulse toward truth, and if He said to me: Choose! even at the risk of exposing mankind to continual erring, I most humbly would seize His left hand, and say: Father, give! absolute truth belongs to Thee alone._ G.E. LESSING, _Nathan the Wise_ #/ CHAPTER IV _The Secret Doctrine_ I