“What a Friend We Have in Jesus”

“It seems like I've loved this hymn most of my life. It speaks to me that Jesus is truly my friend and always cares for me and loves me.” – Kathy Neeb

Joseph M. Scriven was born September 10, 1819 in Banbridge, Ireland. His family moved to England in 1826, and then to Dublin in 1834 where Joseph attended Trinity College. Honoring the tradition of his family, he entered the military, attending officers’ training at a military seminary. He left after two years, finding that he was physically unfit to be a soldier. He returned to Trinity in Dublin to study and he received his BA degree in 1842. He found work as a tutor and in 1843 he became engaged to be married, but tragedy struck. Joseph’s fiancé fell from her horse while crossing a bridge over a river and drowned just one day before they were to be married. Joseph stood helplessly watching from the other side of the river.  Shortly after moving to Canada in 1846 to become a teacher, Scriven became engaged to Eliza Roche. Tragedy struck again and Eliza passed away from illness shortly before marriage.

Joseph used the tragedies and hardships in life to empathize with the elderly and poor. As a member of the Plymouth Brethren, he tried to live according to the Sermon on the Mount as literally as possible, giving and sharing all he had and often doing menial tasks for the poor and physically disabled. Scriven seldom had a regular income, and he was forced to live in the homes of others. He also experienced mistrust from neighbors who did not appreciate his eccentricities or his work with the underprivileged.

He wrote this famous hymn near Port Hope, Ontario, in 1855 to comfort his mother who still lived in Ireland. Because his life had been filled with grief and trials, Scriven often needed the solace of the Lord as described in his famous hymn. He did not seek to be recognized, and his authorship was discovered only by accident shortly before his death. 

Scriven himself began to experience poor health, financial struggles and depression his last years of life.  He was in serious depression at the time. A friend reported, "We left him about midnight. I withdrew to an adjoining room, not to sleep, but to watch and wait. You may imagine my surprise and dismay when on visiting the room I found it empty. All search failed to find a trace of the missing man, until a little after noon the body was discovered in the water nearby, lifeless and cold in death." To this day, no one knows for sure if Joseph Scriven's death was accident or suicide. Scriven died in Bewdley, Rice Lake, Ontario, Canada on August 10, 1886.

The Hymn:

Joseph Scriven wrote several hymns and short papers that were published by James Sackville, and it was Sackville who discovered the words to this hymn. When asked who wrote those words, Scriven replied, “I wrote it. The Lord and I did it between us. Many years ago my mother was going through a time of great sorrow and I wrote it to comfort her”. It had not been included in a collection of 115 hymns published in 1869, but was discovered and gained popularity after Scriven’s death, when a copy of the newspaper The Port Hope Guide had been used to wrap a package being sent to New York, with the words of the hymn printed on that newspaper. 

It has been noted about this hymn, “Any unlettered person can understand it; the humblest saint can take its admonitions to heart, practice prayer, find his load more bearable and spiritual life deepened”.  Scriven’s biographer, James Cleland, noted in 1895, “In the steerage of the steamer, a traveler returning from Europe, heard a mixed company, who spoke different languages, united in singing this hymn”.

Starting as a modest poem written in Canada as a private meditation for the author's mother, this hymn has brought encouragement and strength to many different people in all of life’s situations; and has found its way into the hearts of people worldwide and, undoubtedly, has been a source of comfort for millions of Christians for more than 150 years.

The Tune:

Written by Charles Converse (1832-1918) in 1868.  Converse, a Massachusetts native, was an attorney and musician. Born in Warren, MA, he went to Leipzig, Germany to study law and philosophy, as well as music theory and composition at the Leipzig Conservatory. He became an author, composer, arranger and editor. He returned to the US in 1859 and graduated from the Albany, NY, Law School in 1861.