STUDY (8) WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS J Charles Converse (Melody) Joseph Scriven (Lyrics) Joseph Scriven graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. A fter his fiancée drowned the night before they were to marry, he moved to Canada in 1846. There he taught in Woodstock and Brantford, Ontario, and was a tutor for the Pengelly family near Bewdley. It was there he met and became engaged to Eliza Roche, a relative of the Pengellys. In what seems too amazing to be coincidence, Eliza died shortly before their we dding. Following the death of his second fiancée, Scriven joined the Plymouth Brethren, helping the aged members of the community. Scriven wrote this hymn in 1855 to comfort his mother, who was across...