What a Friend We Have in Jesus -- Joseph Scriven

He was in a place called Port Hope, Canada (in southern Ontario), but his heart almost certainly was across the ocean in Dublin, Ireland (see its coat of arms here). He’d had a pretty rough decade, so when Joseph Scriven sat thinking about what to write to his ill mother, whom he could not go to see, he may have thought that she had been anxious about him. After all, his life had been turned inside out as a result of what befell him. Not to worry, he wrote to his mom, for “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, and therefore someone to whom each of us can always turn. Joseph had in fact been trying to emulate his God-friend, so he may have been testifying to her what in fact it meant for him to be a friend to others, to mimic what he saw in his Creator. What would one friend say to one another, if that listening friend was actually the Almighty?

Joseph Scriven’s misfortunes and then his response to them speak volumes about the strength of his bond with God. Joseph tragically lost two women to whom he was engaged to marry – one to drowning as a 25-year old and the other to tuberculosis many years later. And so, apparently between these  two episodes, he set his sight on complete devotion to helping others in need in Port Hope, emulating what he’d appreciated most about Jesus in scripture that he read. It was also during this interlude that he learned his mother was seriously ill back in Dublin. In his mid-30s, Joseph wrote her the four-verse poem that ultimately became his hymn about friendship and prayer, and sent it to her with a letter offering his long-distance comfort as best he could. Even after his second fiancée died, Joseph continued his personal philanthropic lifestyle, showing the bond between himself and the compassionate Lord was stronger than any tragedy that could come his way. Most people would consider loss of clothes and money as signs of desperate conditions, yet that’s where Scriven strove to go in the wake of losing his first love – to live Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in reality. Is it possible that’s the state where he discovered something deeper, more long-lasting, and certain than anything his relationships or earthly goods had thus far delivered? Perhaps he felt he had found the blessed life of which Jesus had spoken (Matthew 5), and had challenged others to join. After joining with Jesus in this way, Joseph must have felt it only made sense to address Jesus in prayer and call upon his divine friend in all circumstances, especially in the turmoil that life can bring.     

Joseph’s poetry suggests he saw lots of struggle as he lived out his version of blessedness according to Matthew 5 (vv.3-12). He’d had his own share, and would see more beyond 1855 when “What a Friend…” was composed. Five years later (1860) was reportedly the time when he lost a second love to untimely death. And, his own life would end at 66 due to a delirium-induced drowning (in 1866). In between these two calamities, he threw himself into the lives of the needy in tangible ways, responding to their own struggles in which he observed them. He certainly earned the name “Good Samaritan of Port Hope”, while making no known enemies, and likely drawing more than a few to pray to the One he tried to imitate. How does one make others think of God as their friend? Joseph Scriven didn’t just write out an answer. Go live it.  

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985; Then Sings My Soul, by Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson publishers, 2003; and Hymns of Faith, edited by Ken and Janice Tate, House of White Birches publishers, 2000.  

Also see this link, showing all four original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/w/a/f/wafwhij.htm