Baptist, had been at
some time strongly influenced by Essenian doctrines. The spiritualized
conception of the "kingdom of heaven" proclaimed by him was just what
would naturally and logically arise from a remodelling of the Messianic
theories of the Pharisees in conformity to advanced Essenian notions. It
seems highly probable that some such refined conception of the functions
of the Messiah was reached by John, who, stigmatizing the Pharisees and
Sadducees as a "generation of vipers," called aloud to the people to
repent of their sins, in view of the speedy advent of the Messiah, and
to testify to their repentance by submitting to the Essenian rite of
baptism. There is no positive evidence that Jesus was ever a disciple
of John; yet the account of the baptism, in spite of the legendary
character of its details, seems to rest upon a historical basis; and
perhaps the most plausible hypothesis which can be framed is, that Jesus
received baptism at John's hands, became for a while his disciple, and
acquired from him a knowledge of Essenian doctrines.

The career of John seems to have been very brief. His stern puritanism
brought him soon into disgrace with the government of Galilee. He was
seized by Herod, thrown into prison, and beheaded. After the brief hints
given as to the intercourse between Jesus and John, we next hear of
Jesus alone in the desert, where, like Sakyamuni and Mohammed, he may
have brooded in solitude over his great project. Yet we do not find that
he had as yet formed any distinct conception of his own Messiahship.
The total neglect of chronology by our authorities [20] renders it
impossible to trace the development of his thoughts step by step; but
for some time after John's catastrophe we find him calling upon the
people to repent, in view of the speedy approach of the Messiah,
speaking with great and commanding personal authority, but using no
language which would indicate that he was striving to do more than
worthily fill the place and add to the good work of his late master. The
Sermon on the Mount, which the first gospel inserts in this place, was
perhaps never spoken as a continuous discourse; but it no doubt for the
most part contains the very words of Jesus, and represents the general
spirit of his teaching during this earlier portion of his career. In
this is contained nearly all that has made Christianity so powerful in
the domain of ethics. If all the rest of the gospel were taken away,
or