The song is written about people who are hiding their malice behind a feigned lifeway of a kind religious man (particularly Christians, due to the mention of cross, crucifix, etc.). The positive principles of religion, which supposed to drive these people, are decadent and eroded, and the poet is critcizing them for that. He says that by swearing perjury they won't reach redemption or purification, they don't mange to deceive him, and eventually they will find a bitter end.
The song is written about people who are hiding their malice behind a feigned lifeway of a kind religious man (particularly Christians, due to the mention of cross, crucifix, etc.). The positive principles of religion, which supposed to drive these people, are decadent and eroded, and the poet is critcizing them for that. He says that by swearing perjury they won't reach redemption or purification, they don't mange to deceive him, and eventually they will find a bitter end.