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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithoda. 1 2 3 4 5 6 o h X O •z > O W u a P!5 HMIMiVMrii WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS AND OTHER HYMNS BY JOSEPH SCRIVEN WITH A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR BY REV. JAS. CLELAND PORT HOPE W. WILLIAMSON, PUBLISHER 189s / lli|IUK"N^ia^«PliPR<9^P«IMip«| 9C530 P / /. !■ * 7 ^ • f ..« A CELEBRATED HYMN acknowledged. Its high worth is attested by the fact, that it has been attributed, without authority, to Horatius Bonar, and to others of our great hymn writers. A few interest- ing facts in relation to it are taken from articles which appeared in the New York Observer^ about a year ago— some mistakes in these are corrected, and some reliable inform- ation, both new and important, supplied as to its author. It has been translated into many languages, and "over 50 million impressions of the piece are known to have been made." Mr. Ira Sankey states, that wherever he has sung it, it is a greater '^ 'w^m"* ^ mmm mmmm - AND ITS WRITER. 5 favourite, with the people, than any other. No doubt one cause of its popularity is due to the music to which it is set, and which was furnished by Mr. C. Converse, an accomplished musician. The tune is one "which the people make their own— a sacred folk song." Criminals on the scaffold have requested to have it sung to them. Mr. Van Meter states that it has been sung, in the sweet Italian tongue, under the walls of the Vatican. It has sung its way to millions and millions of souls; inspiring comfort and hope in the stormy passages of life. In the steerage of the steamer, a traveller I' l""ll™I^B»i»l»n"T!JTT^ 6 A CELEBRATED HYMN returning from Europe, heard a mixed company, who spoke diflferent lan- guages, united in singing this hymn. Naturally much interest has been taken in the inquiry — "Who was its author?" In a letter to the New York Observer^ in March, 1893, it is stated that it was written by Joseph Scriven — an obscure local preacher, blind in his latter years — and found after his death among his papers. U. Joseph Scriven was^ without doubt, the author of this matchless hymn. He was born in Dublin, about 1820, and was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. He also spent four years at Addiscombe Military College, near to I I mwivwnrn^fi^^^^fmf ■' AND ITS WRITER. 7 London. He emigrated to Canada, over forty years ago. His family is highly respectable, and his brother is a physician of standing, in Stephens Green, Dublin. The special reasons for his emigration are not known to his friends here, but it may have been his conversion. About 1850 he came to the neigh- bourhood of Rice Lake— lo miles from Port Hope, Ontario— and engaged as tutor in the family of Lieut. Pengelly He at this time was a professedly religious man, having also embraced, to a large extent, the tenets of the Plymouth Brethren, though he did not belong to the body. 1^' ■ ' " 8 A CELEBRATED HYMN He gathered a small Plymouth church at Rice Lake, and was for years a preacher on market and other days, in the streets of Port Hope. Like his Brethren he refused to join in the services of any of our churches — not recognizing them as such — and only when his peculiar tenets were questioned, was he liable to lose command of an otherwise smooth temper. When converted, Mr. ocriven probably united with some Separatist Society. The history may have been something like this. About 1840 there was a strong religious move- ment in Dublin. A number of earnest " aaeassesx AND ITS WRITER, g Christian men, who desired to see more devotedness to Christ, and closer union among the people of God, associated themselves together for religious fellowship and study, meeting together as disciples of Christ on every Lord's day " to break bread." Before this there had been a Separatist Society founded by John Walker, an ex fellow of Trinity College, on somewhat similar grounds. His society was, he asserted, the One spiritual church in Dublin. He died in 1833. Another Separatist Society, was that of the Rev. J. Kelly, a former minister of the Church of England, and who is well known as the writer 10 A CELEBRATED HYMN of many choice hymns. He died in 1855. With the keen controversies carried on in Dublin, in connection with the prominent doctrines of these and kindred societies, Joseph Scriven must have been familiar. The mem- bers were drawn from the different churches, and as Mr. Scriven states, " there was a unity and love and sweet fellowship among them." When 5aved, he. united with them, though he adds, "I knew nothing, and today I know, very little, of the power of the principles which I claimed." His benevolence, in accordance with his principles, was of the extreme kind. In one of the papers, which.. he " ■H AND ITS WRITER. tl " has left behind him, he says: — "The wearing of gold and expensive clothes, made in the world's style, is as much forbidden as stealing. If I spend five cents on some unnecessary thing for ornament, it costs that much money, and that money would buy something for a needy person. Again ; the Scriptures, to which I have just referred, speak only of women's cloth- ing, but if a man wears cuffs, that are no part of his shirt, and only put on for ornament, if he wears studs, gold chains and clothing, of a more expensive kind than what would be durable and afford the same comfort, he is as much disobeying the word ' •I'll «<