AE 893 - "follow the Lord and to take up the cross"

AE 893 [3, 4]

Jesus said, He that does not take up his cross
and follow after Me
is not worthy of Me.
(Matthew 10:38; Luke 14:27)

Jesus said to His disciples,
If anyone will come after Me
let him deny himself,
take up his cross,
and follow Me.
(Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23)

In these passages the "cross" means temptations,
and "to follow the Lord" means to acknowledge His Divine
and to do His commandments.
. . . The "cross" means temptations
because the evils and the falsities therefrom
that cling to man from his birth
infest and thus torment those who are natural
when they are becoming spiritual.
And as those evils and their falsities that infest and torment
can be dispersed only by temptations,
temptations are signified by the "cross."
Therefore the Lord says, that
"they must deny themselves and take up their cross,"
that is, that they must reject what is their own,
"their cross" meaning what is man's own [proprium],
against which he must fight.

Jesus spake to the rich man
who asked Him what he should do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus said to him, You know the commandments:
Thou shalt not commit adultery;
Thou shalt not kill;
Thou shalt not steal;
Thou shalt not bear false witness;
Thou shalt not defraud;
Honor thy father and mother.
He answered and said unto Him,
All these things have I observed from my youth.
Jesus looked upon him and loved him;
yet He said unto him,
One thing you lack;
go, sell whatsoever you have and give to the poor;
so shalt you have treasure in the heavens;
and come, follow Me,
taking up the cross.
(Mark 10:17-21)

Here "to follow the Lord and to take up the cross"
have the same signification as above,
namely, to acknowledge the Lord's Divine,
and the Lord as the God of heaven and earth;
for without that acknowledgment
no one can abstain from evils and do good
except from self and as meritorious good,
for the good that is good in itself
and that is not meritorious good
is solely from the Lord;
consequently he cannot be saved
unless the Lord is acknowledged,
and it is acknowledged that all good is from Him.
And yet before anyone can act from the Lord
he must undergo temptations,
for the reason that the internal of man,
by which he is conjoined with heaven,
is opened by means of temptations.
And because no one can do the commandments
apart from the Lord,
therefore the Lord said,
"Yet one thing you lack;
sell all that you have and follow Me, taking up the cross;"
that is, the Lord must be acknowledged
and temptations must be endured.
That "he should sell all that he had and give to the poor"
signifies in the spiritual sense
that he should alienate and cast away from himself
what is his own [proprium],
thus it has the same signification as "denying oneself"
in the passages quoted above;
and "to give to the poor"
signifies in the spiritual sense to do the works of charity.
The Lord said this to him because he was rich;
and "riches" signify in the spiritual sense
the knowledges of good and truth,
and with this man, who was a Jew,
the knowledges of evil and falsity, since they were traditions.
From this it can be seen that the Lord,
here as elsewhere, spoke by correspondences.