VOCATIONAL U-TURN

A monthly feature on a hymn of the faith.

Son of an Irish lawyer, Thomas Kelly (born in 1769 in a town near Dublin) followed his father's vocational footsteps, studying law in Dublin and in London. But in London, he changed career paths and at 23 became a clergyman for the Church of Ireland. That didn't last, because he'd started reading works of William Romaine, a noted evangelical Anglican who de-emphasized that church's “works” teachings. Kelly's new evangelical convictions poured into his preaching, leading to censure from the established Irish church. Striking out on his own, he began preaching at various Irish chapels that had broken away from the mother church, gaining a reputation as a “dissenting” preacher. Besides his brilliance as a linguist, poet, and musician, he was known as a pious yet gracious man.

At 30, he married a woman from a wealthy but pious family. At age 33 he published the first of what would become his own 765 original hymns over the next fifty-plus years, included in about a dozen revised hymnal editions. That output led to his reputation as “Ireland's Charles Wesley,” alluding to the prolific hymn-writing brother of reformer John Wesley, author of some 6,500 hymns.

Kelly used his wealth to help the poor, especially those afflicted by the Irish fungus-caused potato famine of 1845-1852, in which an estimated one million died and another million-plus fled the country.Of his huge output of hymns, several still survive some 250 years later. The best known is probably “Praise the Savior, Ye Who Know Him,” which expresses dependence on Christ for salvation and daily life, and the hope of eternal life. Though his hymn lyrics were simple, Kelly's chose unusual rhyme schemes, that hymn being a good example:
“Charms us, arms us, nothing harms us.”
“Forever, never, sever.”
“Cleaving, believing, receiving”
“Would be, should be, could be.”
Most of his hymns expressed praise to the Savior and ended with encouragement about heaven. At a time of limited medical care, when people didn't live long, Kelly was still publishing hymns and preaching into his eighties. At 85 he suffered a stroke while preaching. A year later, as he lay dying, someone shared for Kelly's comfort the psalmist's declaration, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Kelly found the strength to reply, “Not my will but Thine be done” and “The Lord is my everything.” He died a day after his 86th birthday in 1855.

Sing along with printed lyrics and majestic organ this You-Tube recorded at a large California church:
Praisethe Savior, Ye Who Know Him (Grace Community Church) - Bing video

P.S. This hymn came into my list of “beloved hymns” in the mid-1970s when I served at the Southern California headquarters of Wycliffe Bible Translators. (They've since moved their head offices to Florida.) I first heard that hymn in the office chapel services. I needed the hymnal to follow words and music, but around me, seasoned missionary-linguists joyfully sang it from memory.