十字架

解説

付記

「善くあれ、善くあれ！」と女たちは叫ぶ。 聖なる合唱のごとく。 罪を遠ざけよと、 彼女らは自らの魅力を誇示する。 だがなぜだ、なぜ一度たりとも 愛らしい仕草を持つ若き美女が、 可憐な顔で 白十字の旗を振る姿を見たことがないのか？ 説教や小冊子で人を諭す必要があるのか？ もっと単純な救済の方法がある―― （もっとも、人間が救うに値するならばだが） 男が邪念に負けそうなとき、 律法を藁のように無視し、 罪を犯そうとするとき―― 救済の道は一つ。 「彼に罪を犯させないこと」だ。

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Original

An ancient religious symbol erroneously supposed to owe its significance to the most solemn event in the history of Christianity, but really antedating it by thousands of years. By many it has been believed to be identical with the crux ansata of the ancient phallic worship, but it has been traced even beyond all that we know of that, to the rites of primitive peoples. We have to-day the White Cross as a symbol of chastity, and the Red Cross as a badge of benevolent neutrality in war. Having in mind the former, the reverend Father Gassalasca Jape smites the lyre to the effect following:

Additional notes

Be good, be good! the sisterhood Cry out in holy chorus, And, to dissuade from sin, parade Their various charms before us. But why, O why, has ne'er an eye Seen her of winsome manner And youthful grace and pretty face Flaunting the White Cross banner? Now where's the need of speech and screed To better our behaving? A simpler plan for saving man (But, first, is he worth saving?) Is, dears, when he declines to flee From bad thoughts that beset him, Ignores the Law as 't were a straw, And wants to sin—don't let him.