CROSS 



1646 



CROSSBILL 



Isaac Watts has made as large a contribution 

 to the gospel song-book, for at her death over 

 6,000 hymns bore her signature. Her favorite 

 song, Safe in the Arms of Jesus, was written 

 when she was suddenly inspired with the sense 

 of security in trusting in God; Rescue the 

 Perishing was inspired by another event. Such 

 songs from her pen as the following are known 

 the world over: Pass Me Not, Blessed Assur- 

 ance and What a Gathering. The chorus of 

 Close to Thee typifies the faith of her whole 

 life: 



Close to Thee, close to Thee ; 

 All along: my pilgrim journey, 

 Saviour let me walk with Thee. 



CROSS, a structure consisting of an upright 

 and a crosspiece attached to it, which, since the 

 crucifixion of Christ, has been a sacred symbol 



Greek 



Maltese 



St. Andrew's 





 StAnthony's 



Calvary Patriarchal 



VARIOUS FORMS OF CROSSES 



throughout the Christian world. Literature, 

 especially hymnology, contains innumerable 

 references to the cross as a religious emblem. 

 Spenser alludes to its use as a symbol in Chris- 

 tian warfare in the following passage from the 

 Faerie Queene: 



And on his breast a bloody cross he bore 

 The dear remembrance of his dying Lord, 

 For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he 

 wore. 



The cross as a symbol of Christianity, as 

 distinguished from the moon, or crescent, the 

 emblem of Mohammedanism, is beautifully ex- 

 pressed in Shelley's lines: 



The moon of Mahomet 

 Arose and it shall set ; 

 While, blazoned as on heaven's 



immortal noon 

 The cross leads generations on. 



In ancient times slaves and criminals of the 

 lowest class were frequently tied or nailed to 

 crosses and left to perish of pain or starvation. 



Such a cross was often formed merely by 

 fastening a piece of wood to a tree or a post. 

 Though the death of Christ gave the cross a 

 new meaning, it was an object of religious 

 veneration among savage tribes long before 

 the Christian Era. 



Various forms of the cross are used in art. 

 The Latin cross, supposed to be the one on 

 which Christ died, consists of a long upright 

 beam and a piece fastened to it at right angles 

 below the summit. The Greek cross has four 

 arms of nearly equal length, this being the 

 form of the cross of Saint George, the national 

 ensign of the English before the union with 

 Scotland. 



The cross of Saint Andrew, consisting of 

 two beams crossing one another obliquely, is 

 traditionally the form of cross on which Saint 

 Andrew died a martyr. It is now blended 

 with the cross of Saint George in the British 

 ensign, the Union Jack (see FLAG). A form 

 used by the orders of knights in the days of 

 chivalry was the Maltese cross, having eight 

 pointed ends. 



CROSS, MARY ANN or MARIAN. See ELIOT, 

 GEORGE. 



CROSS 'BILL, a gentle, friendly bird of the 

 finch family, whose peculiarly-crossed bill 

 gave it its name and has called forth various 

 legends. The fanciful tale that the bird tried 

 to draw the nails from the hands of Christ on 

 the cross, so crossing its bill and staining its 

 feathers with blood, has been put into verse by 

 Longfellow in The Legend oj the Crossbill. 



THE CROSSBILL, 



The common male crossbill is colored brick 

 or Indian red, with wings and tail of brown, 

 and is about the size of an English sparrow. 

 The plumage of the female is a slightly-mot- 



