Readings · Hymns
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Joseph M. Scriven · 24 lines
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear;
What a privilege to carry
Ev’rything to God in prayer.
O, what peace we often forfeit,
O, what needless pain we bear;
All because we do not carry
Ev’ry thing 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 ev’ry weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden,
Cumbered with a load of care;
Precious Saviour, 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.
About this reading
These words are credited to Joseph M. Scriven, an Irishman who settled in Canada, who is said to have written them about 1855 to comfort his mother. They were first printed, with no writer's name, in H. L. Hastings's Social Hymns, Original and Selected, published in Boston in 1865.
This printing of 1870 names no writer, crediting the words to a Brooklyn church collection. Joseph M. Scriven was named as their author in H. L. Hastings's Songs of Pilgrimage in 1886. The hymn was first printed in 1865.
- First published
- 1865
- Text from
- Silver Wings (Boston, 1870)
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