I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it some day for a crown.

-Bennard, George
  'The Old Rugged Cross'.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Matthew10:37^9.

   He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Matthew 27:42.

And he said to them all,If any manwill come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

-Bible (NewTestament)
St Luke 9:23.

Wherefore seeing we alsoare compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

-Bible (NewTestament)
Hebrews12:1^2.

The cross is God's truth about us, and therefore it is the only power thatcanmakeustruthful.Whenwe know the cross we are no longer afraid of the truth.

-Bonhoeffer, Dietrich
  Nachfolge (translated as The Cost of Discipleship).

Billige Gnade ist Gnade ohne Nachfolge, Gnade ohne Kreuz, Gnade ohne den lebendigen, menschgewordenen Jesus Christus. Cheap graceisgracewithout discipleship, gracewithout the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

-Bonhoeffer, Dietrich
  Nachfolge (translated as The Cost of Discipleship).

We receive this Child into the Congregation of Christ's flock, and dosign him with thesign of the Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end. Amen.

-Book of Common Prayer
Publick Baptism of Infants, Reception of the Child.

He shouldered high his voluntary Cross, Wrestled his hardships into forms of beauty, And taught his gorgon destinies to sing.

-Campbell, (Ignatius) Roy Dunnachie
  'Luis de Camo‹   es'.

   The Cross alone has flown the wave. But since the Cross sank, much that's warped and cracked Has followed in its name, has heaped its grave.

-Crane, (Harold) Hart
  'The Mermen', in The Dial, no.85,  Jul.

   Round and round the circle Completing the charm So the knot be unknotted The cross be uncrossed The crooked be made straight And the curse be ended.

-Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)
  The Family Reunion, pt.2, sc.3.

There's a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Khatmandu, There's a little marble cross below the town, There'sa broken-heartedwomantendsthegrave of Mad Carew, And theYellow God forever gazes down.

-Hayes,J Milton
The Green Eye of theYellow God. US  Republican  statesman  and 19th  President  (1877^81).  Under his  presidency,  the  country  recovered  commercial  prosperity, and his  policy  included  the  reform  of  the  civil  service  and  the conciliation of the Southern states.

In cruce salus, in cruce vita. In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life.

-Kempis, StThomas a'
c.1413  De Imitatione Christi, bk.2, ch.12, section 2.

Si libenter crucem portas, portabit te. If you bear your cross willingly, it will bear you.

-Kempis, StThomas a'
c.1413  De Imitatione Christi, bk.2, ch.12, section 5.

The stone remains, and the cross, to let us know Their unjust, hard demands, as symbols do.

-MacCaig, Norman Alexander
  'Celtic Cross'.

Yet som men say in many partys of Inglonde that kynge Arthur ys nat dede†and men say that he shall com agayne, and he shall win the Holy Crosse.Yet I woll nat say that hit shall be so, but rather Iwoldesey: here inthys there ys wrytten uppon the tumbe thys: [Here lies Arthur, the once and future king].

-Malory, SirThomas   d.1471
HIC IACET ARTHURUS, REXQUONDAM REXQUE FUTURUS.c.1470  Morte d'Arthur, bk.21, ch.7.

The orgasm has replaced the cross as the focus of longing and the image of fulfilment.

-Muggeridge, Malcolm
  Tread Softly forYouTread on My Jokes.

This day, much against my will, I did in Drury Lane see two or three houses marked with a red cross upon the doors, and 'Lord have mercy uponus'writ thereöwhich was a sad sight to me, being the first of that kind that to my remembrance I ever saw.

-Pepys, Samuel
  Diary entry,7 Jun.The houses were afflicted with bubonic plague, which lasted in London until the summer of1666.

Still falls the Rainö Dark as the world of man, black as our lossö Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails Upon the cross.

-Sitwell, Dame Edith Louisa
  'The Raids,1940. Night and Dawn'.

If youcannot have yourdear husband fora comfort and a delight, for a breadwinner and a crosspatch, for a sofa, chair or a hot-water bottle, one can use him as a Cross to be Borne.

-Smith, Stevie (Florence Margaret)
  Novel OnYellow Paper.