What a Friend We Have in Jesus - Hymn for May

Good day, my friends! 'Tis a new day and a new month! 

My mind cannot comprehend that we are already into the month of May! I feel as though I blinked and April was gone.

How have ya'll been? What have ya'll be up to? 

So with the new month it is time to learn a "new" hymn, and as you can already tell by the title of this post, that hymn is What a Friend We Have in Jesus. 

To my shame I didn't know much about the origins of this particular song. I kind of had a guess that it began as a poem, but the man behind the pen was unknown to me. 

Below is a bio of him, his life, and what may have been the driving inspiration for the beloved hymn.

"Joseph Scriven had composed the poem to comfort Jane Scriven, his mom, back in Ireland. Joseph had left his home there in 1845 to escape the memory of his departed fiancée. She died accidentally in a river after being thrown from her horse. It was the night before their wedding. Now, ten years later, while living in Port Hope, Canada, the poem was written for his “mother’s eyes only”—never thinking anyone else would ever see it. So began a story behind the hymn with many twists and turns.

A poem written for “a mother’s eyes only” to comfort her during a time of illness has blessed millions since its first appearance in print in 1875. This song had such humble beginnings that even Joseph never could have realized what he had done for all who would follow.

When Joseph came to Canada in 1850, he was offered a position as a tutor for the Pengelley family. This position he held for five years during which time he met Eliza Catherine Roche, Mrs. Pengelley’s niece. Joseph fell in love with Catherine; and by 1859, they were engaged to be married. Joseph was a Plymouth Brethren; Catherine was a member of the Church of England. Catherine wanted to follow the Brethren faith and insisted on being baptized before their marriage took place. So in April 1860, she was fully immersed in a very cold Rice Lake which lead to a case of pneumonia. She died on the sixth of August four months later. This second death of a fiancé marked a turning point in Joseph’s life from which he never recovered.

He gave away what money he had and spent the rest of his life helping the poor and destitute. His benevolence was said to be of an extreme kind. He wrote this: “The wearing of gold and expensive clothes made in the world’s style is as much forbidden as stealing. If I spend five cents on some unnecessary thing for ornament, it costs that much money, and that money would buy something for a needy person.” For over 20 years, he managed a dairy for a destitute widow in Port Hope. Joseph would walk the streets of Bewdley and Port Hope preaching to whoever would listen. On one occasion, he was actually arrested for disturbing the peace. Joseph spent the summers in Port Hope and his winters in Bewdley. It was there be became good friends with a James Sackville, a fellow believer.

If it was lost loves or simply age, time was taking a toll on Joseph. Mr. Sackville had this to say, “His body was just worn down with toil, and his mind was wearied with failure and disappointment in his work during past years.” Mr. Sackville was caring for Joseph when, on the morning of August 10, 1886, Joseph was nowhere to be found. It wouldn’t be until a little after noon that the lifeless body was discovered in the spillway of Rice Lake. Water had claimed the third soul in this story of twists and turns.

In 1869, Joseph had published a collection of his hymns in Peterborough, Ontario. What a Friend was not included. He composed the hymn while living with the Sackvilles near Rice Lake. He sent one copy to his mother in Ireland and gave a second copy to Mrs. Sackville. No other attempts were made by Mr. Scriven to make the hymn known. The Lord would take over at this point and send the hymn around the world.

I close with this interesting request by Joseph Scriven. Because of his friendship with the Pengelley family, Joseph’s final resting place would be the Pengelley family cemetery. It was his wish that he be buried near his beloved, Catherine. His request was that they be “in such a position with feet near feet, so that one day when we rise from the grave, we will face one another.”"

What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer!

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge--
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do your friends despise, forsake you?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he'll take and shield you;
you will find a solace there.

May you go with Him today!