Guide me O thou great Jehovah

This morning we brought our 10am service to a close by singing the famous hymn Guide me O thou great Jehovah. A number of people have asked me about its origins, so here’s a brief summary.
The lyrics were originally written in Welsh by William Williams Pantycelyn (1717-1791), the finest of Welsh hymn writers. The hymn began Arglwydd, arwain trwy’r anialwch ("Lord, lead me through the wilderness") but in a later English translation was changed to Guide me O thou great Jehovah. As a young man Williams intended to become a medical doctor, but this changed when he was converted, listening to Howell Harris, the evangelical reformer, preaching in 1737. He became a deacon in the Church of England, and served as a curate in several parishes. But because of his commitment to the practices of those who were known as “the methodists”(before the Methodist Church became a separate denomination), he was refused further ordination in 1743. From then, he devoted himself to travelling through Wales, preaching and establishing local fellowships of Methodists. Through his 800 hymns, he was one of the most important influences on Welsh language culture in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The tune that is most often used to accompany William’s hymn is called Cwm Rhondda (Rhondda Valley). It was written by the Welsh composer John Hughes (1873-1932). Hughes wrote the first version of the tune for the Cymanfa Ganu (hymn festival) in Pontypridd in 1905, when the enthusiasm of the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival still remained. It was later adapted and partly re-written for the inauguration of the pipe organ at a church called Capel Rhondda, in Hopkinstown in the Rhondda Valley, in 1907. Hughes himself played the organ at this performance.
It’s a challenging tune not an easy one to sing well. It was written, though, at a time when church congregations in Wales were large in number and were quite used to singing in four-part harmony! The tune is usually pitched in A-flat major and has the 87.87.44.77 measure which is common in Welsh hymns. The third line repeats the first and the fourth line develops the second. The fifth line normally involves a repeat of the four-syllable text and the sixth reaches a climax on a dominant seventh chord emphasised by a rising arpeggio in the alto and bass parts. The final line continues the musical development of the second and fourth (and generally carries a repeat of the text of the sixth). On account of these vigorous characteristics, the tune was resisted for some time in both Welsh and English collections, but has since become a firmly established favourite.
Here’s a recording, which I hope you will enjoy. Not a recording of us singing in church this morning here in Hainault, I hasten to add!