Scripture Verse

Can you drink the cup I am going to drink? Matthew 20:22

Introduction

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Reginald Heber (1783–1826)

Words: Re­gi­nald He­ber, 1812.

Music: All Saints Henry S. Cut­ler, in The Hym­nal with Tunes Old and New, by John I. Tuck­er, 1872 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

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Henry S. Cutler (1825–1902)

Anecdote

In Mrs. Ew­ing’s Sto­ry of a Short Life it is the fa­vour­ite hymn in the bar­racks, where the sol­diers call it the ‘tug of war’ hymn. The of­fi­cer’s son, who had been crip­pled for life by an ac­ci­dent, begs just be­fore his death that the sold­iers will sing it again.

They go un­der his win­dow, and when in the midst of the verse, ‘A no­ble ar­my, men and boys,’ a hand is seen at the win­dow pull­ing down the blind. The brave suf­fer­er is gone. The sto­ry made the hymn wide­ly po­pu­lar among child­ren as the ‘tug of war’ hymn.

Telford, p. 410

This hymn was sung in the 1975 mo­vie The Man Who Would Be King, which was nom­in­ated for sev­er­al Aca­de­my Awards.

Lyrics

The Son of God goes forth to war,
A king­ly crown to gain;
His blood red ban­ner streams afar!
Who fol­lows in His train?
Who best can drink His cup of woe,
Triumphant ov­er pain,
Who pa­tient bears his cross be­low,
He fol­lows in His train!

That mar­tyr first, whose ea­gle eye
Could pierce be­yond the grave;
Who saw his mas­ter in the sky,
And called on Him to save.
Like Him, with par­don on His tongue,
In midst of mor­tal pain,
He prayed for them that did the wrong:
Who fol­lows in his train?

A glo­ri­ous band, the chos­en few
On whom the Spir­it came;
Twelve val­iant saints, their hope they knew,
And mocked the cross and flame.
They met the ty­rant’s bran­dished steel,
The lion’s go­ry mane;
They bowed their heads the death to feel:
Who fol­lows in their train?

A no­ble ar­my—men and boys,
The ma­tron and the maid,
Around the Sav­ior’s throne re­joice,
In robes of light ar­rayed.
They climbed the steep as­cent of Heav’n,
Through pe­ril, toil and pain!
O God! to us may grace be giv’n,
To fol­low in their train!