No Cross, No Crown by C. M. Willis

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 26, 1865

No Cross, No Crown.

By C. M. Willis

THE cup my Lord has given, Shall I refuse to take? The Lord of earth and Heaven Hath drank it for my sake. He took the bitter chalice, And drank its contents up, Though dregs of hate and malice, Were mingled with the cup.

The cross for me appointed, Shall I refuse to bear? Or, with the Lord's Anointed, The heavy burden share? 'T will prove a golden fetter, If welcomed with a kiss;— I could not choose a better, If I should shrink from this.

The pathway rough and dreary, Through which my Saviour led, Because my feet get weary, Shall I refuse to tread? Through thorns and briars tangled, Through sin and Satan's thrall, Crushed, bleeding, bruised, and mangled, He meekly bore it all.

Ah, no: with resignation I'll take life's burden up; Accept the degradation, The cross, the bitter cup. I would not aught diminish, From cross, or scoff, or frown; Then when my race I finish, I'll have reserved a crown.

C. M. Willis. Charlotte, Mich.