By Hymn Stories

      "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" -Philippians 4:6

      Perhaps no other hymn has ministered so much comfort and consolation as this simple but meaningful message of hope and cheer. As with many of our hymns, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" was a result of much grief in the life of its author, Joseph Medlicott Scriven.

      Joseph Scriven was born of prosperous parents in Dublin, Ireland, in 1820. At the age of twenty-five, Scriven suddenly decided to leave his native Ireland and migrate to Canada. His reasons for leaving seem to have been twofold: the spiritual influence of the Plymouth Brethren upon his life, which estranged him from his family; and the tragic death of his fiancee by accidental drowning on the evening before their scheduled wedding.

      Upon arriving in Port Hope, Canada, Joseph Scriven began a totally different pattern of life. As the local school teacher and tutor, he gave himself completely to his students and the community. He took the Sermon on the Mount literally as his lifestyle. It is said that he gave freely of his limited possessions, even sharing the clothing from his own body when needed, and he never once refused help to anyone. He became known as a Good Samaritan throughout the area surrounding Port Hope.

      Scriven never intended that "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" should be published. Ten years after he had said good-bye to his mother in Ireland, word came that she was seriously ill. Unable to return to his native land, Scriven wrote a letter of comfort to his mother and enclosed the words of his newly written poem with the prayer that these brief fines would always remind her of a never-failing heavenly Friend.

      At the age of sixty-six, Joseph Scriven, like his fiancee, accidentally drowned. After his death the citizens of Port Hope erected a monument on which the entire hymn text is inscribed with these words added: "Four miles north in Pengally's Cemetery lies the philanthropist and author of this great masterpiece, written at Port Hope, 1857."

      The music was added later by a very versatile American, Charles C. Converse, whose talents ranged from law to professional music. In 1875, Ira Sankey discovered the hymn just in time to include it in his well-known collection, Sankey's Gospel Hymns Number One. Later Sankey wrote, "The last hymn which went into the book became one of the first in favor."

      If a person does not pray about everything, he/she will be worried about most things.

      -author unknown