What A Friend We Have In Jesus

It was a poem to begin with. A poem in which Joseph Scriven, a blue eyed, eccentric irishman, intended for his mother as a bit of comfort in times of crisis. A poem that once landing in the right hands... became one of the most well known hymns we hear today.

Joseph sent words of comfort to his mother... “What needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in Prayer...”

Powerful words considering the life Joseph had run away from in Dublin Ireland. At the time Joseph wrote his poem to his mother he was living in Canada, which is where he sailed to after his bride-to-be had drowned the day before their wedding when Joseph was twenty-five years old.

It wasn’t until nearly ten years later in Canada that Joseph fell in love again with a woman named Eliza Catherine Roche. Until... once again tragedy struck, and he lost his fiance to illness.

I don’t know much about losing a loved one, especially one I intended to marry...twice...but, what I can only try to imagine is enough to get slightly choked up while spending time contemplating this story. It is enough to validly assume that after so much trauma Joseph would be furious at God, and turn away from his faith. But, if anything stands out while researching the life of Joseph Scriven, it is that he was spoken of as a man who would give the shirt off his back to those in need. That his time was mainly spent lending a hand to the poor, and giving freely of what money he had.

In fact, many didn’t even know of his poetic talents until closer to the end of his life. “What a Friend We Have In Jesus” was published anonymously in Eighteen Fifty Five, and Joseph did not receive credit for it until the Nineteen Eighties. I have a feeling Joseph preferred it this way... In fact, when Joseph was asked about the hymn, and whether or not he’d written it his response was “The Lord and I did it between us”.

In Eighteen Ninety Six Joseph became ill to the point of delirium that caused him to run into a creek... where he drowned himself.

When Joseph was buried it was arranged so that his feet would be placed opposite Eliza’s. So that when he was resurrected he, and Eliza would be sure to arise facing each other.

Upon Joseph’s grave was built an obelisk in honor of him by those who loved his hymn. Among the engraving it is written “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”.

Maybe it is just the celtic music I have playing on my computer as I write this story that stirs up the emotions, or maybe it is just that beautiful... But, I don’t think there could have been a better phrase to place in honor of a man so humble as Joseph Scriven.