During the years of His public ministry the Apostles frequently asked their Lord to explain what they did not understand in His teaching. And we may feel sure that, at this time, many things must have appeared to them in a new light, and many sayings must have gained a force and meaning which they had failed to perceive before. And if "The Kingdom of Heaven," about which He had said so much, was to be a real Kingdom, it is clear that there must have been many things on which they would require instruction, about the order and government of it, and about the practical carrying out of His loving designs for the salvation of the world. And inasmuch as we find that, almost immediately after their Lord's Ascension, the Apostles were fully prepared not merely to preach, as He had done, the good news of the Kingdom, but to call men into it as a Kingdom already established upon earth, we conclude that all these matters must have been fully explained to them during these days, and that these were "the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God" of which He spake. Passing by, for the present, other questions of difficulty which would very probably arise in their minds, there are two passages in our Lord's discourses recorded in the Gospels which we can hardly doubt were discussed at this time; because some of His words have been preserved to us which connect those passages with what afterwards became the practice of the Church. The first question of difficulty which would naturally arise out of one of His former sayings, and to which He provided the answer, was this--What was to be the form of admission into "The Kingdom of Heaven"? He had said to Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God" (S. John iii. 5). But what did the words mean? What steps were to be taken by one who wished to enter the Kingdom? With what use of water would the Holy Spirit's power be connected? Here was a practical question requiring a decided answer. And we conclude that this was one of "the things pertaining to the Kingdom" which were spoken of during this time, because we find a brief record of distinct instructions given by our Lord to His Apostles how they were to admit men as His disciples or subjects. No discourse is recorded, but this clear commission is handed down by S. Matthew--evidently given in such a way that the Apostles could not fail to understand its meaning--"Go ye and make disciples[11] of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (S. Matt. xxviii. 19). And consequently Holy Baptism became at once, and has been ever since, the form of admission into "The Kingdom of Heaven" (Acts ii. 38-41). And being an outward form, and yet a spiritual act, we have herein both "the water and the Spirit." It is an outward form in which there is a ceremonial use of water; and yet it is a spiritual