And can I call my home
My Father's house on high;
The rest of God, my rest to come,
My place of liberty!
Yes, in that light unstained,
My stainless soul shall live;
My heart's deep longings more than gained,
When God His rest shall give.
J. N. Darby.
IN the year 1905 Mr. Kelly was with us from April 12th for about two months, when he went to Guernsey and then home, and during that time of blessed intercourse, one could not but see that much of the old vitality was wanting, and the storm and stress of Christian warfare was telling upon him. But there was the same keen interest in life; the same desire for work. Never shall we forget his expositions day by day at our family worship.
And in his table talk what vast stores of knowledge were his! What a pleasure it was to listen to his criticisms of men and things. How clearly he showed that the trend of events was only the fulfillment of the eternal purposes of God. What an unerring insight he had into the machinations of the powers of evil against the Christ of Scripture. He took an absorbing interest in everything that was happening in the world in which he lived: he looked at the vast panorama of nations spread out before him from the heights of faith; and the rise and fall of dynasties; the march of the conqueror, and the submission of the conquered; were all but parts of a Divine plan-working towards a certain end.
His Bible, one could see, was to him in everything the Alpha and Omega of Divine revelation. It was in deed and in truth the Book of God. He judged everything by the word of God. In speaking of the lives of men who figured largely in the world's history he showed a marvelous acquaintance with their teaching and their aims; and while he never excused their departure from the truth of God, he was only too willing to speak tenderly of those who loved the Lord, although they knew but little of His truth and love.
At Conferences and elsewhere we have seen him surrounded by eager seekers after truth. How ready he was to answer one and all; and to impart to others the truths God had revealed to him. How he bore with the infirmities of the weak in God's work, and rejoiced in the strength of the strong. He had the innate courtesy of the Christian gentleman. He was so human that every phase of life was of interest to him, and so spiritual that he would bring the truth of God to bear upon the thousand episodes of daily existence.
There were few earthly friends as true as he was; I speak what I know, and my testimony is also that of many, many others who knew and loved him well.
He was jealous for God at all times. How great was his love for the assemblies of God's people! How willingly he would go to lecture or to preach to the twos and threes scattered up and down the country! Guest of the rich or the poor, he was ever the same, loving the Lord's people for the Lord's sake, and ministering to them because he loved them.
Dear Mr. Kelly! I would that I could say how much I owe to him, but God knows.
Faithful servant of the living God, he has left behind him engraved on the fleshy tablets of many human hearts, memories of love that can never be eradicated.
And how he loved to speak of old days-the early golden days of united fellowship and service. How he lamented the divisions among the Lord's people! How grieved he was at attacks of so-called religious teachers on the inspiration of the Bible. One of his latest works was "The Inspiration of the Bible," published in 1903, when he was 82 years of age. A proof, if one were wanted, of the marvelous brain power that was his to the end of his life. In the Preface to this great work he says:- "There is no question agitated in Christendom of greater moment than the true character and claim of the Scriptures. Nor has their Divine authority been more widely denied all over the world than in our own day; and this, not merely by avowed skeptics, but by professing Christians of practically every denomination, and by many of their most distinguished representatives. But when the adversary comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord does not fail to lift up a standard against him.
In this volume my heart's desire is to furnish a help to souls that seek the light of God which inspiration furnishes to those who tremble at His word. I have presented the positive proofs that God speaks in it to every conscience and heart, more particularly of Israel in the Old Testament, and of the Christian in the New, though all scripture is his food. Men may refuse to hear, or hear to despise; but this they do at their peril; for God is not mocked. Such unbelief has a deeper brand of evil, after men have professed the Lord's name, than when the written word was first committed to human responsibility. It is the spirit of apostasy diffused by the great enemy of God and man, before the apostasy itself is established as a public fact which is at hand.
In the face of a preparation so dark and ominous, which scripture announces as certain (2 Thess. 2:33Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; (2 Thessalonians 2:3)), there are children of God all over the earth, who acknowledge with grateful thanksgiving His faithfulness in turning the attacks of Satan and his dupes to their confirmation in the faith, and the more profound enjoyment both of scripture and of Christ therein revealed by the Holy Spirit. May the reader by grace be helped to share a privilege which bespeaks itself divine, the best antidote to that unbelief which enfeebles where it does not quite destroy the divine energy of every revealed truth. To human tradition I give no real weight, less if possible to the speculations of men on grounds which they deem probable. As the traditional school is one form of rationalism, so is neo-criticism another, the one adding to God's word, the other taking from it, to His dishonor. Legitimate criticism is the servant of faith in seeking to eliminate errors of transcription; but it receives without question every word that was originally written. What is called "scientific inquiry" rises up in its empty pride against the divine authority of Christ, who has ruled what it dares to deny.”
We thank God for permitting his servant to leave behind him this monumental work on "The Inspiration of the Scriptures." How valuable to God's people is such a book at the present time. A book dealing with Divine authority and Divine design, every book of the Bible having stamped upon it indelibly the impress of inspiration, and the whole forming the "all Scripture... given by inspiration of God." He speaks of the New Testament sealing the truth of the Old Testament. "The poetic position attests it no less than the prose, the prophetic as clearly as the historical.”
He shows us that "one directing Author presides over each several part, imparting a special character to it, and at the same time causing all to contribute to the common purpose of revealing His counsels of glory and His ways of grace, while fully making known the weakness or the wickedness of the creature in resisting His will and doing its own.”
He was much occupied with writing, eager before his life here was done to complete the volumes he was engaged upon. The following, which was written a few weeks before he died, will give an idea of his characteristic handwriting, and will doubtless prove interesting to those who have never seen his written articles with their corrections.
When in Exeter in 1905 he lectured every week in the Queen Street Meeting Room. The lectures he then gave were taken down in shorthand, and will (D.V.) be printed in the Bible Treasury. He also preached the gospel in the Victoria Hall. To the work there he had been a faithful friend ever since its commencement twenty-two years ago.
There was never one who loved the gospel more than he did, or who preached it more fully. I have listened with wonder at the marvelous way in which he spoke of the love of Christ to sinners. I have felt as I listened, that I had never known how to preach the gospel, or realized so fully the depths of sin and the heights of the grace of God to sinners. Some have said he had no sympathy with evangelists. They little knew him, or they would never have said it. I have a letter written to me from the death bed of his wife, in which he sought amidst all his own deep sorrow to send me words of encouragement and help.
His work we know was not the work of an evangelist, but he never ceased to pray for the gospel, or to preach it.
He told me the verse that was used by God to convict him of sin was, "I saw the dead small and great stand before God." Over and over again he spoke of the blessedness of gospel preaching. I dwell upon this because he has so often been charged with having no sympathy with those who preached it. I make no apology for again quoting from his written works. You shall hear from his own lips, as it were, what the gospel of the grace of God was to him. This quotation is taken from his " Introductory Lectures to Paul's Epistles, p. 5:"He was debtor both to the Greeks and the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise; he was ready, as far as he was concerned, to preach the gospel to those that were at Rome also (Rom. 1:14,1514I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. 15So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. (Romans 1:14‑15)). Even the saints there would have been all the better for the gospel. It was not merely to those at Rome, 'but to you that be at Rome.' Thus it is a mistake to suppose that saints may not be benefited by a better understanding of the gospel, as least as Paul preached it. Accordingly he tells them now what reason he had to speak thus strongly, not of the more advanced truths, but of the good news. ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek’ (Rom. 1:1616For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)).
“Observe, the gospel is not simply remission of sins, nor is it only peace with God, but ‘the power of God unto salvation.’ Now I take this opportunity of pressing on all that are here to beware of contracted views of salvation.' Beware that you do not confound it with souls being quickened, or even brought into joy. Salvation supposes not this only, but a great deal more. There is hardly any phraseology that tends to more injury of souls in these matters than a loose way of talking of salvation. ‘At any rate he is a saved soul,’ we hear. ‘The man has not got anything like settled peace with God; perhaps he hardly knows his sins forgiven; but at least he is a saved soul.’ Here is an instance of what is so reprehensible. This is precisely what salvation does not mean; and I would strongly press it on all that hear me, more particularly on those that have to do with the work of the Lord, and of course ardently desire to labor intelligently; and this not alone for the conversion, but for the establishment and deliverance of souls. Nothing less, I am persuaded, than this full blessing is the line that God has given to those who have followed Christ without the camp, and who, having been set free from the contracted ways of men, desire to enter into the largeness and at the same time the profound wisdom of every word of God. Let us not stumble at the starting-point, but leave room for the due extent and depth of ‘salvation’ in the gospel.
“There is no need of dwelling now on 'salvation' as employed in the Old Testament, and in some parts of the New, as the Gospels and Revelation particularly, where it is used for deliverance in power or even providence and present things. I confine myself to its doctrinal import, and the full Christian sense of the word; and I maintain that salvation signifies that deliverance for the believer which is the full consequence of the mighty work of Christ, apprehended not, of course, necessarily according to all its depth in God's eyes, but at any rate applied to the soul in the power of the Holy Ghost. It is not the awakening of conscience, however real; neither is it the attraction of heart by the grace of Christ, however blessed this may be. We ought therefore to bear in mind, that if a soul be not brought into conscious deliverance as the fruit of Divine teaching, and founded on the work of Christ, we are very far from presenting the gospel as the apostle Paul glories in it, and delights that it should go forth. ‘I am not ashamed,’" &c.
What follows is equally pertinent and important; but I trust I have quoted enough to show that even as the Apostle Paul lived and preached the gospel, so did he seek to do.
The following is a gospel hymn written by Mr. Kelly:-
Our Savior Christ, 'tis now we see
God's glory in Thy face;
Thy blood is shed: our sins are gone
In o'er abounding grace.
Raised from the dead, Thou art on high
And seated on the throne:
How bright the proof our God displays
Thy perfect work is done!
No darkness more, nor cry from Thee
In weakness crucified,
Where judgment reached for us its end,
And God was glorified.
Now in His light without a veil
We read Thy cleansing blood;
Where love and holiness unite,
And we are brought to God.
Oh! matchless way of grace divine,
To which Thy cross gave right;
We praise Thee now and evermore-
Blest day without a night,
How many there were who misunderstood him when he had to rebuke those who perverted the truth of God. He could be unsparing for Christ's sake. One has said of him, "I should feel inclined to agree with the narrator of the reminiscences that the vein of sarcasm and caustic humor obtruded too often in Mr. Kelly's critical writings, and gave offense to those he otherwise might have convinced and conciliated." I cannot agree with this, for a greater servant of God than Mr. Kelly was, has said, "For do I now persuade men or God? or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be Christ's servant." It was impossible for him to serve two masters. I have heard him speak in the kindest way of many he has had to oppose most firmly for the Truth's sake. He gave no quarter where the honor of Christ was concerned, and instead of blaming this faithful servant of the living God for this, we should be thankful that in our day and generation this great voice has been heard for Christ, and we have been permitted to know one of the profoundest exponents of the Scriptures that has been given to the Church since apostolic days. Every little fault of expression has by some been magnified into a crime; and little allowance has been made by others for his deep and true love for Christ, and his continued solicitude for the people of God.
The following is taken from a religious paper, The Christian, April 5, 1906:"Many of our oldest readers will learn with deep regret that Mr. William Kelly, who is thought to have been the last survivor of the first generation of the ‘Brethren,’ and who had been in fellowship with them for sixty-five years, passed away on March 27, in his eighty-fifth year. He was well known as the writer of numerous expository works on Scripture and as the editor of the monthly Bible Treasury. The magazine was noted for its loyalty to the Scriptures, and the notable degree in which Mr. Kelly combined scholarly attainment with spirituality made him a formidable opponent of destructive critics. A young relative whom he had prepared for Trinity College, Dublin, so distinguished himself that Mr. Kelly was urged by one of the professors to settle there, as by so doing he might make a fortune; but it was characteristic of the man that his reply should be summed up in the question: ‘For which world?’
“To the last year of his life Mr. Kelly retained his mental vigor, and kept abreast of modern thought. As late as 1903 he published a goodly volume on ‘The Inspiration of the Scriptures,’ and followed this up two years later by issuing able and helpful expositions of the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Epistles of John. He had edited the Collected Writings of J. N. Darby, of whose body of doctrine he was one of the foremost interpreters. His best known books consist of lectures on the books of the Bible (in particular on The Apocalypse), the Church of God, the New Testament Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Recently Mr. Kelly sent to Japan a selection of literature likely to help students in that country in the understanding of Holy Scripture.”
From another source we have the following personal reminiscences:"I remember him," says the writer, “first as a lecturer in London, about 1870. His home at that time was in Guernsey, where there was a large and flourishing meeting of Brethren. About April in each year he used to come to town for a month, and he filled up most of his evenings with lecturing. He spoke to crowded audiences in different districts, for example, at the Priory in Upper-street, Islington; at William-street, near King's Cross; and at a hall in Kennington, close to the Oval. His Scriptural expositions were highly appreciated. His style as a lecturer was clear, and his manner dignified. He had the scholar's shortsightedness, and used to wear glasses for distance, but to the close of his life he was able to read the little Oxford Bible in diamond type, pushing his glasses up on his forehead as he began. His handwriting was almost microscopic, and he could put as much on a postcard as most men can on four pages of note-paper. Mr. Kelly's printers must have dreaded his corrections, for these were sometimes written out on postcards, and the aid of a reading-glass was required to decipher them. His expositions and lectures have had a steady sale, but many of them have fallen out of print. For fifty years he edited the Bible Treasury, and he was also the editor of Mr. Darby's Collected Writings.'
“Like all his Irish countrymen, Mr. Kelly had a gift of humor, but he had also a vein of sarcasm, which sometimes gave offense.
“For many years before his death, Mr. Kelly lived in Belmont-park, Blackheath, attending the Bennett Park meeting. His famous library, which was said to weigh seventeen tons, has been presented to the town of Middlesboro', on the suggestion of the Archbishop of York.
“In social life he was much beloved, though he lived very quietly, and moved only in a circle of intimate friends. Many can recall his graceful old-world courtesy “Mr. Kelly retained to the last a considerable share of physical and mental vigor. A few weeks before he left London for Exeter, he was calling on a friend in the City, and talked with distress on the progress of the Higher Criticism among ministers and laity. He mentioned at that time that he was suffering from sleeplessness, and that his doctor had ordered him to give up mental work.
“As a scholar, William Kelly will be long remembered. His critical Greek text of the Revelation was pronounced by Ewald to be the best piece of work of the kind that had come under his notice. Archbishop Benson warmly praised his work on the Mosaic Cosmogony. The list of his writings occupies nearly ten pages in the British Museum catalog.”
I never remember a time in my life when I did not know Mr. Kelly. The admiration of the boy for this honored servant of God ripened into a warmer feeling as years passed on, and I was able the better to appreciate his wonderful powers in the unfolding of Scripture; and his untiring endeavor to serve those who loved his Lord and theirs. And as my service for the Lord continued, so did my love and respect for him increase; a more faithful friend and adviser one could never have. His plainness of speech where the truth was concerned may have wounded some, but not those who knew the true heart that never thought of consequences when the honor of his Master was at stake.
I have learned many a lesson of Christ-like patience, never to be forgotten, as I have seen the way in which he has borne affronts that must have wounded him sorely. I have seen him many times full of sorrow at having been misunderstood, yet ready at all times to help any, and especially those who may have felt aggrieved at any word of his.
I loved him while he lived, and shall revere and love his memory to the end. It was a privilege indeed to have been allowed to minister to him in his last days, and to watch, with his loved ones, the departure of that mighty spirit to its well-earned rest.
He will live in his works, and thousands yet will thank God for this great gift to His Church.
Unfaltering in the path of Christian duty: unswerving in his loyalty to Christ: willing at all times to spend and be spent for his brethren: conquering fatigue and the infirmities of age in his deep desire to do all he could in devoted service to the Lord, so he lived-and now he is gone; and we stand sorrowfully in the shadow of this great loss. May the Lord bless his last words spoken in the sunset of his earthly life to many.
Surely, we who watched him day by day and night after night, can appreciate his deep true love for his Lord.
But his utterances will speak for themselves, and bear testimony to the reality of his faith, and to the grace of Christ that had never failed His servant through his life, and now sustained him at the end.
O Lord, through tribulation
Our pilgrim journey lies,
Through scorn and sore temptation,
And watchful enemies;
'Midst never ceasing dangers
We through the desert roam,
As pilgrims here and strangers,
We seek the rest to come.
Oh! by Thy Holy Spirit
Reveal in us Thy love,
The joy we shall inherit
With Thee our Head above;
May all this consolation
Our trembling hearts sustain,
Sure, though through tribulation,
The promised rest to gain.
J. G. Deck