Perhaps if the Baptist, whose authority it would have been difficult for him to escape, had remained free, Jesus would not have been able to throw off the yoke of external rites and ceremonies, and would then, no doubt, have remained an unknown Jewish sectary; for the world would not have abandoned its old ceremonies merely for others of a different kind.

It has been by the power of a religion, free from all external forms, that Christianity has attracted elevated minds.

The Baptist once imprisoned, his school was soon diminished, and Jesus found himself left to his own impulses.

The only things he owed to John, were lessons in preaching and in popular action.

From this moment, in fact, he preached with greater power, and spoke to the multitude with authority.[1] [Footnote 1: Matt.vii.