Rector’s Reflections
Tuesday 25th February 2025
Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer: A Hymn and its Background
In yesterday’s reflections, I introduced the man who wrote the words to Guide Me O Thou Redeemer. His name was William Williams of Pantycelyn, and he was one of the most influential Welshmen of the 18th century. As well as being a committed Christian, he was a prolific author, writing in both English and Welsh.
We have seen that he was brought up as a Congregationalist, before being ordained into the Church of England. However, within a few years he had joined the new Methodist movement, and more particularly the branch of the wider Methodist movement known as the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. In subsequent years, the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists (later known as the Presbyterians) built hundreds of chapels all over Wales, and they remained a powerful force in the religious and cultural life of the Principality until recent years.
The fact that William joined the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists is important for understanding the way he thought and wrote about the Christian faith .
You may think that this means that William ceased being an Anglican when he joined the Methodist movement. In fact, this was not the case. During William’s life lime it was perfectly possible to be both a faithful member of the Church of England and also a committed Methodist. The Methodist movement arose within the Church of England, and it was only in later 18th century that a hard and fast division began to emerge. It was not until the mid 19th century that the Methodists had come to constitute a separate Church, with several different branches.
The actual significance of William’s decision to join the Methodist movement lies elsewhere. It’s about what this shows us on the subject of William’s priorities in matters of religion. It shows us that for William, being a Christian was fundamentally about three things.
To start with, it’s about being saved from our sins through a personal relationship with Jesus. We are all sinners, and unless we repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus, we will face the wrath of God and the prospect of an eternity suffering the fires of Hell. This experience of being saved from our sins can be called “conversion”. Merely going along to church and identifying as a Christian is not sufficient. We need to experience a spiritual conversion. Unless we are converted, we remain unconverted sinners, and unconverted sinners are on a one way journey to Hell.
Secondly, even conversion is not enough. Once we are converted, we must live the rest of our lives as committed Christians, putting the teachings of Jesus into practice in every aspect of our lives. This process of living our lives as faithful disciples of Christ has traditionally been known as “Sanctification”, although it is currently fashionable to talk about “Discipleship”. In other words, the sincere repentance of our sins (“conversion”) is not enough. Sincere repentance must be combined with committed discipleship (“sanctification”). Given sufficient training and commitment, might it be possible for us to become virtually perfect Christians during our lifetime here on earth? Opinions have varied on this.
Finally, William decided to join the Calvinist branch of the Methodist movement. The word “Calvinist” can and does mean many different things, but in this context it was basically about emphasizing the power and majesty of God, and God’s ability to do anything He wished to do. It pictured a great chasm between an all powerful and all perfect God , and the miserable, weak life forms we call human beings, sunk in sin and deserving of a lifetime in Hell. It views human beings as miserable sinners, and so we should be grateful that God has chosen to save a few (“the elect”) from the fires of Hell. By joining the Calvinist Methodists, William was declaring his essential agreement with this “Calvinist” outlook. Many of his fellow Methodists rejected this “Calvinist” outlook, regarding it as outdated, and showing God in a very bad light. “Calvinists” such as William would have said that while their message was challenging and uncomfortable, it was true to the Bible, and Christians have to teach what the Bible says. We can’t make up Christian doctrine to please ourselves.
How did William’s beliefs show themselves in his writings, and in particular in the words of Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer ? We shall begin to explore this in tomorrow’s reflections.