st curious that the arrival of the Emperor Julian at
Antioch--where the followers of Christ Jesus, it is said, were first
called Christians--at that time, should be considered an _ill omen_. Why
should it have been so? He was not a Christian, but a known apostate
from the Christian religion, and a zealous patron of _Paganism_. The
evidence is very conclusive; _the celebration in honor of the
resurrection of Adonis had become to be known as a Christian festival,
which has not been abolished even unto this day_. The ceremonies held in
Roman Catholic countries on Good Friday and on Easter Sunday, are
nothing more than the festival of the death and resurrection of Adonis,
as we shall presently see.

Even as late as the year A. D. 386, the resurrection of Adonis was
celebrated in _Judea_. St. Jerome says:

"Over Bethlehem (in the year 386 after Christ) the grove of
Tammuz, that is, of Adonis, was casting its shadow! And in the
_grotto_ where formerly the infant Anointed (_i. e._, _Christ
Jesus_) cried, the lover of Venus was being mourned."[220:1]

In the idolatrous worship practiced by the _children of Israel_ was that
of the worship of _Adonis_.

Under the designation of _Tammuz_, this god was worshiped, and had his
altar even in the Temple of the Lord which was at Jerusalem. Several of
the Psalms of David were parts of the liturgical service employed in his
worship; the 110th, in particular, is an account of a friendly alliance
between the two gods, Jehovah and Adonis, in which Jehovah adorns Adonis
for his priest, as sitting at his right hand, and promises to fight for
him against his enemies. This god was worshiped at Byblis in Phoenicia
with precisely the same ceremonies: the same articles of faith as to his
mystical incarnation, his precious death and burial, and his glorious
resurrection and ascension, and even in the very same words of religious
adoration and homage which are now, with the slightest degree of
variation that could well be conceived, addressed to the Christ of the
Gospel.

The prophet Ezekiel, when an exile, painted once more the scene he had
so often witnessed of the Israelitish women in the Temple court
bewailing the death of Tammuz.[220:2]

Dr. Parkhurst says, in his "Hebrew Lexicon":

"I find myself _obliged_ to refer Tammuz, as well as the Greek
and Roman Hercules, to that class of idols _which were
originally designed to represent the promised Saviour_