The historical fact of the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost is not, in every instance, recorded in the Scriptures, and it is not necessary that it should be, in order to prove that the ordinance was established by the Messiah. In the matter of baptism He said to John, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." He made no exception of Himself, but gave the example by his own obedience. How can others be excused? To show that the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, by those having divine authority was practiced by the ancient apostles, we refer to Acts viii:14, 17: "Now, when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (for as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost." Philip did not have the authority to lay on hands for this gift, hence Peter and John were sent from Jerusalem for the express purpose of performing this higher ordinance of the Gospel. In the nineteenth chapter of Acts is an account of Paul's visit to the city of Ephesus, where he found about twelve men who claimed to have received the same form of baptism as administered by John the Baptist. But in answer to Paul's question, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" they told him they had not so much as heard of it, and his action in re-baptizing them would strongly indicate that some imposter had counterfeited in form the true baptism. This being performed without legitimate authority, their sins were not remitted, and they were not in a condition to receive the Holy Ghost. Hence Paul baptized them; and the sixth verse says: "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them and they spake with tongues and prophesied." An imposter can baptize in water by physical force, imitate the true form at the submission of the candidate, but the gift of the Holy Ghost cannot be given without authority from God; and while the water baptism is equally destitute of its legitimate results when not performed by authority, the imposture is not so readily detected because not usually accompanied by the same manifestation of divine power; therefore designing or ignorant men have taken pains either to deny the gift of the Holy Ghost as being essential with its ancient spiritual powers, or to tell the people that no outward ordinance was essential to confer it, thus endeavoring to dispense with this sacred ordinance.