Frederick William Orde Ward (1843-1922). The Prisoner of Love (1904). II. The Cup. Alfred H. Miles, ed. 1907. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

The Prisoner of Love (1904).
II. The Cup

By Frederick William Orde Ward (1843–1922)

	“O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.”
	St. Matt. xxvi. 42.

THERE is a Cup, the Saviour drank,
Who drained it to the very lees,
We take from God and humbly thank
When shadow falls and sunshine flees;
The sorrow which doth make the king	5
Who would be crowned by suffering
And knowledge which alone is rank.

We all must deeply drink the cup
Of grief, if we would enter in
Christ’s fellowship which raiseth up	10
The souls redeemed from their sin;
And then, when we have tasted death
In Him and trodden it beneath,
With God Himself at last we sup.

If it be possible, we say,	15
Let this affliction from me fly,
And bid me walk some softer way
Than that of Christ’s own Agony!
But there is Grace sufficient then,
For God is merciful to men—	20
And Heaven is opened as we pray.

Himself in trial by us stands
And strengthens us to bear it all,
The Cup He holdeth in His Hands
And on His Bosom breaks our fall;	25
He drinketh too the bitter first,
And leaves the sweetness for our thirst—
Who gives the powers with the commands.