What A Friend We Have in Jesus

Joseph Scriven, 1819-1886

Charles C. Converse, 1832-1918

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief 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 thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer.
In His arms He'll take and shield thee, thou wilt find a solace there.

Joseph Scriven and Charles C. Converse

Joseph Scriven was born in 1819 of prosperous parents in Dublin, Ireland. He was a graduate of Trinity College in Dublin. At the age of twenty-five, he decided to leave his native country and migrate to Canada. His reasons for leaving were apparently due to the religious influence of the Plymouth Brethren, which resulted in his estrangement from his family, and the accidental drowning of his fiancée the night before their planned wedding.

"What a Friend We Have in Jesus" was never intended for publication. Upon learning of his mother's serious illness and unable to return to visit her in far-off Dublin, he wrote a letter of comfort and enclosed the words of this hymn. Some time later when he himself was ill, a friend who came to visit him saw the poem scribbled on a scratch pad near his bed. The friend asked him if he had written the poem. In typical modesty, he replied, "The Lord and I did it between us." Later the poem was published in a small collection of his poems. The collection was simply entitled Hymns and Other Verses.

The composer of the music, Charles C. Converse, was a well-educated Christian whose talents ranged from law to professional music. Though he was an excellent musician and composer with many of his works performed by the leading American orchestras of the day, he is best remembered for this simple hymn. The hymn was discovered by Ira D. Sankey and included in his well-known collection, Sankey's Gospel Hymn's Number One. Later Sankey wrote, "The last hymn which went into the book became one of the first in favor."