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Thomas Kelly
Thomas Kelly (July 13, 1769–May 14, 1855) was an Irish evangelical preacher, hymn writer, and founder of the Kellyite sect, celebrated as one of Ireland’s most prolific hymnists, often dubbed “the Charles Wesley of Ireland.” Born at Kellyville near Athy, Queen’s County (now County Laois), Ireland, he was the only son of Thomas Kelly, a judge in the Court of Common Pleas, and an unnamed mother. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1789), he initially pursued law at London’s Middle Temple, but a transformative encounter with William Romaine’s writings convicted him of sin, leading him to abandon law for ministry. Ordained in the Church of Ireland in 1792 at age 23, he married Elizabeth Tighe of Rosanna, County Wicklow, in 1795, a union that brought wealth and produced at least two daughters, Elizabeth and Caroline Theodosia. Kelly’s preaching career began with fervent evangelical sermons on justification by faith, which clashed with the established church’s norms. By 1794, Archbishop Robert Fowler of Dublin barred him from church pulpits, prompting Kelly to become a Dissenter. He built independent chapels in Blackrock, Athy, Portarlington, Wexford, and Waterford, funding them with his inherited fortune and wife’s dowry, and preached wherever he could, often alongside allies like Rowland Hill. In 1802, he formalized his sect, the Kellyites, which emphasized grace and scriptural truth, attracting followers across Ireland. A gifted linguist and musician, he wrote 765 hymns over 51 years, including “Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious” and “We sing the praise of Him who died,” published in works like Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (1804–1853). His ministry faced opposition from Catholic clergy, sparking pamphlet wars from 1809 to 1833.
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Thomas Kelly challenges the notion that the complexity of our lives is solely due to our environment, highlighting that even in simpler settings, we can still struggle with busyness and distractions. He shares his experience of trying to find simplicity in the tropics but realizing that the same hectic pace followed him there. Kelly emphasizes that true simplification of life does not come from external changes but from a transformation within ourselves, where we prioritize what is truly needful over the many distractions that vie for our attention.
Complexity of Environment
"Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful..." (Luke 10:41-42). Let me first suggest that we are giving a false explanation of the complexity of our lives. We blame it upon the complex environment. Our complex living, we say, is due to the complex world we live in, with its radios and autos, which give us more stimulation per square hour than used to be given per square day to our grandmothers. This explanation by the outward order leads us to turn wistfully, in some moments, to thoughts of a quiet South Sea Island existence, or to the horse and buggy days of our great grandparents, who went, jingle bells jingle bells, over the crisp and ringing snow to spend the day with their grandparents on the farm. Let me assure you, I have tried the life of the South Seas for a year, the long, lingering leisure of a tropic world. And I found that Americans carry into the tropics their same madcap, feverish life which we know on the mainland. Complexity of our program cannot be blamed upon complexity of our environment, much as we should like to think so. Nor will simplification of life follow simplification of environment. I must confess that I chafed terribly, that year in Hawaii, because in some respects the environment seemed too simple.
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Thomas Kelly (July 13, 1769–May 14, 1855) was an Irish evangelical preacher, hymn writer, and founder of the Kellyite sect, celebrated as one of Ireland’s most prolific hymnists, often dubbed “the Charles Wesley of Ireland.” Born at Kellyville near Athy, Queen’s County (now County Laois), Ireland, he was the only son of Thomas Kelly, a judge in the Court of Common Pleas, and an unnamed mother. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1789), he initially pursued law at London’s Middle Temple, but a transformative encounter with William Romaine’s writings convicted him of sin, leading him to abandon law for ministry. Ordained in the Church of Ireland in 1792 at age 23, he married Elizabeth Tighe of Rosanna, County Wicklow, in 1795, a union that brought wealth and produced at least two daughters, Elizabeth and Caroline Theodosia. Kelly’s preaching career began with fervent evangelical sermons on justification by faith, which clashed with the established church’s norms. By 1794, Archbishop Robert Fowler of Dublin barred him from church pulpits, prompting Kelly to become a Dissenter. He built independent chapels in Blackrock, Athy, Portarlington, Wexford, and Waterford, funding them with his inherited fortune and wife’s dowry, and preached wherever he could, often alongside allies like Rowland Hill. In 1802, he formalized his sect, the Kellyites, which emphasized grace and scriptural truth, attracting followers across Ireland. A gifted linguist and musician, he wrote 765 hymns over 51 years, including “Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious” and “We sing the praise of Him who died,” published in works like Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (1804–1853). His ministry faced opposition from Catholic clergy, sparking pamphlet wars from 1809 to 1833.