September
General Superintendent
Max Edwards
23, 2025
“The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart ” ~ Psalm 34:18
Joseph Scriven (1819 - 1886) was born into a rather well-to-do family in Bainbridge, Ireland. He was a happy, well-adjusted child with a bright future. He attended Trinity College in Dublin, graduating at the age of 23. He found love, and planned to marry in 1843, but his life took a tragic turn when his fiancé accidentally drowned on the very day before their wedding. While crossing a bridge over the River Bann on horseback, she fell off her mount, and was drowned in the water below. Joseph stood helplessly watching from the other side.
In spite of the heartache, Joseph remained a man of sincere faith and pursued a spiritual calling into ministry with the Plymouth Brethren in Canada. Almost beyond belief, his grief was later compounded when a second fiancé died of pneumonia before their wedding in 1860.
Scriven was a poet and song writer, and he published a collection of his works in “Hymns and other verses” in 1869, but it did not include a poem for which he is now, most remembered. You see, while in Canada, his mother fell greatly ill, and he could not afford to travel to her, so he wrote a poem and sent it to comfort her. He titled it, “Pray Without Ceasing,” but today, we know it as “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” It was later set to music and renamed by Charles Crozat Converse
In 1919, lovers of the hymn erected a burial obelisk at his grave in Pengally's Cemetery near Bewdley, Ontario, Canada.
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
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