XXXII.
AT CÆSAREA PHILIPPI.
In the north of Palestine at the foot of snowy Hermon
stood the magnificent city of Cæsarea Philippi.
Philip, the tetrarch, had enlarged and beautified it
and called it Cæsarea, in honour of Tiberias Cæsar.
Philippi, from Philip, was added to distinguish it
from another Cæsarea on the coast. The city is interesting
to us, not for its heathen memories, but for the
presence of Christ our Lord in its neighbourhood, and
for the events that took place there one memorable day.
It was now about ten months before the Passion, and the Apostles had been in the company of our Blessed Lord for nearly three years. During those years their knowledge of Him had been gradually growing. At the time of their call it was very imperfect indeed, and even later, when, from His teaching and wonderful works, they had come to acknowledge Him as the Messiah, their belief as to who He was remained very vague. Like the rest of their nation they knew that the Messiah was to be a great Deliverer; they did not clearly understand that He would be God. And by minding only the glorious things foretold of Him by the Prophets, they had lost sight of the prophecy that He would be a Man of Sorrows.
It was time for our Lord to test the faith of the Twelve, to prepare them for His coming Passion and Death, and to lay the foundations of that Church by which men were to be brought to the knowledge of Him and of what they must do to save their souls.
All this was to be done at Cæsarea Philippi. What
