Saying, give me also this power
He does not ask them to lay their hands on him, that he might receive the Holy Ghost, and have these gifts to exercise himself, but that he might have the power of conferring them on others:
that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost;
in which he discovered his ambition and avarice: his ambition, that he might be above Philip; who though he had these gifts, yet had not a power to lay on hands, and thereby convey them unto others; he perceived that this was purely apostolical; and indeed, what he requested was more than what the apostles could do; for though upon their prayers, and through the imposition of their hands, the gifts of the Spirit were bestowed upon men; yet they never could, nor did give a power to others, to do as they did; and his avarice prompted him to this, that he might make gain of it; not by doing miracles himself, but by conveying a power to others to do them.