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Welcome to Christ Church, Blacklands & St. Andrew, Laton Road, Hastings
HISTORY OF A HYMN.
GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH.
It was a fiery open-air sermon by Howell Harris, the Welsh evangelist, that gave to young medical student William Williams a new ambition and a new vocation. And it was open-air preaching that Williams himself took up after an abortive start in the Church of England ministry. For almost half a century he travelled over the mountains, roads and tracks of Wales, averaging some 3,000 miles a year on horseback or foot. Of the 800 hymns he wrote in Welsh, this is his greatest. Welshmen are supreme singers of it, not least in the open air.
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty,
Hold me with thy powerful hand:
Bread of heaven,
Feed me till I want no more.
William Williams (1717-91)
translated by Peter Williams (1722-96) and others.
Web-master’s note (and yes, I am Welsh):
This Hymn is sung usually in its English translation to the tune “Cwm Rhondda”, composed by John Hughes in 1907. He wrote it in Tonteg, Pontypridd, to fit Welsh words by Ann Griffiths for a music festival held in Capel Rhondda, Hopkinstown, on November 1st 1907, not for William Williams’ words. Originally known just as Rhondda, he soon changed the name to Cwm Rhondda to fit Peter Williams’ translation which has stuck ever since. William Williams’ original Welsh words, “Arglwydd, arwain trwy’r anialwch....”, are not sung to this tune in Wales, but to different tunes in different Chapels, the most commonly used being “Caersalem” by Robert Edwards (1796-1862), composed in about 1824. Although we have three verses in most English Hymnals, the original Welsh and Peter Williams’ translation have six verses.
There is a nice picture of Capel Rhondda here.
Original Welsh text
1. Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch,
Fi bererin gwael ei wedd,
Nad oes ynof nerth na bywyd
Fel yn gorwedd yn y bedd:
Hollalluog, Hollalluog
|: Ydyw'r Un a'm cwyd i'r lan. :|
2. Os agori im' dy fynwes,
I gael gwel'd y cariad llawn,
Lifodd allan fel y moroedd
Ar Galfaria un prydnawn:
Ti gai'r cwbl,
|: Roddaist imiA yn fy rhan. :|
3. Colofn dân rho'r nos i'm harwain,
A rho'r golofn niwl y dydd;
Dal fi pan bwy'n teithio'r manau
Geirwon yn fy ffordd y sydd:
Rho i mi fanna, rho i mi fanna,
|: Fel na bwyf yn llwfrhau. :|
4. Agor y ffynhonnau melus
Sydd yn tarddu o'r graig i maes;
'R hyd yr anial mawr canlyned
Afon iachawdwriaeth gras:
Rho i mi hynny,
|: Dim i mi ond dy fywnhau. :|
5. Pan bwy’n myned trwy’r Iorddonen
Angeu creulon yn ei rym,
Ti est trwyddi gynt dy hunan,
P'am yr ofnaf bellach ddim?
Buddugoliaeth, buddugoliaeth,
|: Gwna imi waeddi yn y llif! :|
6. Ymddiriedaf yn dy allu,
Mawr yw’r gwaith a wnest erioed:
Ti gest angau, ti get uffern,
Ti gest Satan dan dy droed:
Pen Calfaria, pen Calfaria,
|: Nac aed hwnw byth o'm cof. :|
Literal English Translation
1. Lord, lead me through the wilderness,
Me, a poor, sick pilgrim,
I don't have strength or life in me,
Like lying in the grave:
Omnipotent, Omnipotent,
Is the one to raise me to up.
2. If thou wouldst open to me thy breast,
To get to see thy full love,
Which streamed out like oceans
On Calvary one afternoon:
Thou wouldst have everything,
Thou gavest me as my lot.
3. Give a column of fire to lead me at night,
And give a column of fog during the day.
Hold me when I will be travelling places
Which are rough along my way:
Give me manna, Give me manna,
So that I shall not faint.
4. Open the sweet fountain
That flows out from the Rock;
Throughout the great desert following
A river of free salvation:
Give me this,
Not for mine but for thy sake.
5. When I shall go through the Jordan
Cruel death in its power,
Thou hast gone through it thyself before,
How shall I fear not henceforth?
Victory, Victory,
Make me shout in the flood!
6. I will trust in thy might
Great is the work thou hast done of old:
Thou hadst death, thou hadst hell,
Thou hadst Satan under thy feet:
Summit of Calvary, Summit of Calvary,
It will never leave my memory.
And Also