What a Friend we have in Jesus

by Joseph M. Scriven, 1855

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.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised
Thou wilt all our burdens bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.

Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be
no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be
our sweet portion there.

 

~ * ~

About the hymn: Joseph Scriven (1918-1886) of Seapatrick Ireland was educated at Trinity College. The night before he was to marry, his fiance drowned. In 1846 he moved to Ontario, Canada where he was a teacher and a tutor. He was engaged once more to an Eliza Roche who also died shortly before their wedding date. He dedicated the remainder of his life to helping the aged. In Jesus he found “a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share”. His source of comfort inspired this hymn which he wrote for his mother, who was across the sea from him in Ire­land. It was orig­in­al­ly pub­lished anon­y­mous­ly. It was not until 30 years later that Scriv­en re­ceiveed full cred­it for the hymn. Charles C. Converse wrote the music in 1868. During World War I the tune was borrowed to go along with the song “When the Bloody War is Over”.

Don’t – At the Table

Vignettes from Don’t: Manual of Mistakes and Improprieties More or Less Prevalent in Conduct and Speech.

At the Table -

• Don’t come to breakfast in deshabille. A lady’s morning toilet should be simple, but fresh and tasteful, and her hair not in curl-papers. A gentleman should wear his morning suit, and never his dressing-gown. There are men who sit at table in their shirt-sleeves. This is very vulgar.

• Don’t tuck your napkin under your chin, or spread it upon your breast. Bibs and tuckers are for the nursery. Don’t spread your napkin over your lap; let it fall over your knee.

• Don’t devour the last mouthful of soup, the last fragment of bread, the last morsel of food. It is not expected that your plate should be sent away cleansed by your gastronomic exertions.

• Don’t eat onions or garlic,unless you are dining alone, and intend to remain alone some hours thereafter. One should not wish to carry with him unpleasant evidences of what he has been eating or drinking.

• Don’t throw yourself loungingly back in your chair. The Romans lounged at table, but modern civilization does not permit it.

• Don’t drink from your saucer. While you must avoid this vulgarity, don’t take notice of it, or of any mistake of the kind, when committed by others. It is related that at the table of an English prince a rustic guest poured his tea into his saucer, much to the visible amusement of the court ladies and gentlemen present. Whereupon the prince quietly poured his own tea into his saucer, thereby rebuking his ill-mannered court, and putting his guest in countenance.

• Don’t decorate your shirt-front with egg or coffee drippings, and don’t ornament your coat-lapels with grease-spots. A little care will prevent these accidents. Few things are more distasteful that to see a gentleman bearing upon his apparel ocular evidence of having breakfasted or dined.

• Don’t be embarrassed. Endeavor to be self-possessed and at ease; to accomplish which, try and not be self-conscious. Remember that self-respect is as much a virtue as respect for others.

Don’t – In Dress and Personal Habits

Vignettes from Don’t: Manual of Mistakes and Improprieties More or Less Prevalent in Conduct and Speech.

In Dress and Personal Habits -

• Don’t neglect the details of the toilet. Many persons, neat in other particulars, carry blackened finger-nails. This is disgusting. Don’t neglect the small hairs that project from the nostrils and grow about the apertures of the ears – small matters of the toilet often overlooked.

• Don’t wear apparel with decided colors or with pronounced patterns. Don’t – we address here the male reader – wear anything that is pretty. What have men to do with pretty things: Select quiet colors and unobtrusive pattern, and adopt no style of cutting that belittles the figure. It is right enough that men’s apparel should be becoming, that it should be graceful, and that it should lend dignity to the figure; but it should never be ornamental, capricious, or pretty.

• Don’t expectorate. Men in good health do not need to expectorate; with them continual expectoration is simply the result of habit. men with bronchial or lung diseases are compelled to expectorate, but no one should discharge matter of the kind in public places except into vessels provided to receive it. Spitting upon the floor anywhere is inexcusable. One should not even spit upon the sidewalk, but go to the gutter for the purpose. One must not spit into the fire-place nor upon the carpet, and hence the English rule is for him to spit in his handkerchief-but this is not a pleasant alternative. On some occasions no other may offer.

• Don’t have the habit of letting your lip drop and your mouth remain open. “Shut your mouth,” is the advice of a savant, who has written a book on the subject. Breathe through your nostrils and not through your mouth; sleep with your mouth closed; keep it closed except when you open it for a purpose. An open mouth indicates feebleness of character, while the habit affects the teeth and the general health.