In the Primitive Church, the Holy Ghost, after Jesus left the earth, came and took possession, and constituted the grand main-spring, life, light, and power of it. And the apostle Peter (of indisputable authority) declares, in the Second of Acts, that the _promised gift_ of the Holy Ghost SHOULD CONTINUE even to "all the Lord our God should call." But this wonderful agent is not known in modern christianity. His powerful agency, as foretold by Joel in prophecy, in tongues and interpretation, in discerning of spirits and in healing, is not now recognised as being any part of the present christianity. That Spirit that was to make amends for the departure and absence of Jesus, by acquainting believers with all truth--past, present, and future--that they might be comforted with knowledge and light, such as could not be obtained from books, whether inspired or uninspired, was the great _sine qua non_ or essential thing in ancient christianity; but in modern christianity, the fruits of such a spirit would be sneered at, even by divines! What! exclaims one, prophecy in these days! speak in tongues now! heal the sick now! have visions of future things, and even heavenly things like unto the ancients! The exclaimant stands aghast with astonishment, as a perfect stranger to the most obvious and conspicuous principles of ancient christianity. Modern christianity professes to derive all its light, and its various clashing creeds, from the Old and New Testament. If modern christianity is, indeed, the offspring of the Bible, it is a prodigy with many hundred heads; but ancient christianity drew its light from the ROCK of immediate revelation, and previous scriptures were only confirmatory of the Spirit's testimony. Illiterate fishermen, like Peter, traditionated by a corrupt priesthood, could know next to nothing of the written manuscripts of the Bible. What he learnt was not from flesh and blood, but from the spirit of revelation; and let it be always in your mind, sir, that Christ has said, that on "THIS ROCK" of _immediate revelation_ "He will build His church." A christianity contained exclusively in a small volume like the Bible, is an insult to the capacious revelations of the Eternal Spirit of God, that even searches the deep things of God--a mere drop compared with the mighty ocean! The full biography of Jesus Christ contained in the New Testament? Nonsense! Preposterous mockery! You certainly are not ignorant of the last verse in John's gospel--"_The world itself could not contain the account, if written, of the acts and doings_ of Jesus Christ." But shall the knowledge of Christ be buried in oblivion because his acts and sayings cannot be written? No, by no means; God forbid! What saith the scriptures? the all-wise "Spirit shall bring _all things_ to your remembrance, even the deep things of God--things that the tongue cannot utter nor the heart conceive."