- Home
- Speakers
- William Kelly
- The Holy Calling
William Kelly
William Kelly (May 1821 – March 27, 1906) was an Irish preacher, biblical scholar, and writer whose prolific ministry within the Plymouth Brethren movement made him a leading figure in 19th-century evangelicalism. Born in Millisle, County Down, Ireland, to a family of landed gentry, Kelly was left fatherless young, prompting him to support himself by tutoring the family of Mr. Cachemaille, Rector of Sark. He graduated with first-class honours in classics from Trinity College, Dublin, intending Anglican ministry, but at 19 in 1840, he converted on Sark through reading Revelation 20:11-12 and soon joined the Brethren, drawn by their emphasis on Scripture and simplicity. Married in Guernsey to a woman whose name remains unrecorded, he lived there for 30 years before moving to Blackheath, London, in the 1870s. Kelly’s preaching career unfolded as an itinerant minister, delivering lectures across Britain that emphasized biblical authority and dispensational theology, often in Brethren assemblies like Bennett Park Hall in Blackheath. A close ally of John Nelson Darby, he edited Darby’s 34-volume Collected Writings and served as editor of The Bible Treasury from 1857 until his death, engaging scholars like Henry Alford and countering German higher criticism with works like his 1860 critical edition of Revelation, praised by Heinrich Ewald. His books—over 100, including Lectures on the Pentateuch and The Inspiration of the Scriptures—covered every Bible book, earning Charles Spurgeon’s quip that Kelly’s mind, “born for the universe,” was “narrowed by Darbyism.” In 1884, he split from Darby’s Exclusive Brethren over assembly governance, forming the “Kelly Brethren.”
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
William Kelly emphasizes the importance of suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, highlighting the distinction between worldly pursuits and true devotion to Christ. He underscores that the gospel is the power of God for salvation, surpassing legalistic practices and human wisdom. Kelly stresses the significance of God's holy calling, urging believers to focus on heavenly rather than earthly things, especially in times of spiritual decline.
The Holy Calling
Comments on 2 Timothy 1:8-11 He (Timothy) is here enjoined to suffer evil with the gospel, but according to the power of God. Nothing can show more forcibly the deep interest in it to which he was called. When worldliness enters, suffering hardship disappears. When the church becomes worldly, one gains honor, ease, emolument; and so it is with the gospel when it becomes popular. If the gospel and the church engage the heart and testimony according to Christ, suffering and rejection cannot but ensue. Timothy, therefore, was called to take Christ’s part in the gospel; and God’s power would not be lacking, however he might suffer. The gospel is well worth the while, "for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes," being entirely above the distinction which the law or circumcision made. It is of the Spirit, not of the flesh, not national now but personal. God "saved us." It is the fruit of His work in Christ; and that work was finished on earth, and accepted in heaven, and abides for ever, complete and unchanging. Men may move away from the hope of the gospel by ordinances on the one hand or by philosophy on the other. Both are of the world, and almost equally worthless; both are absolutely inefficacious to save, though one be a sign, the other purely human. But God "saved us and called us with a holy calling." Here "holy" is emphatic and most suitable to the Epistle and the state of things contemplated. Always true, it was urgent now to press its "holy" character. It was a calling on high or upward, as we read in Phil. 3:14, in contrast with the earthly things in which men find their glory to their shame. It is a heavenly calling, as we see in Heb. 3:1, which those needed especially to consider who were used to the external calling of Israel in the land. It is God’s calling with its hope in and with Christ where the creature disappears from view and His eternal counsels for the glory of His Son are developed for the soul, as in Eph. 1 and 4. But now in the growing declension of such as bore the name of the Lord the apostle binds together God’s salvation with His holy calling. An evil time is not at all one for lowering the standard but for unveiling it and pressing its importance. [Italics added, Hulshizer]
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
William Kelly (May 1821 – March 27, 1906) was an Irish preacher, biblical scholar, and writer whose prolific ministry within the Plymouth Brethren movement made him a leading figure in 19th-century evangelicalism. Born in Millisle, County Down, Ireland, to a family of landed gentry, Kelly was left fatherless young, prompting him to support himself by tutoring the family of Mr. Cachemaille, Rector of Sark. He graduated with first-class honours in classics from Trinity College, Dublin, intending Anglican ministry, but at 19 in 1840, he converted on Sark through reading Revelation 20:11-12 and soon joined the Brethren, drawn by their emphasis on Scripture and simplicity. Married in Guernsey to a woman whose name remains unrecorded, he lived there for 30 years before moving to Blackheath, London, in the 1870s. Kelly’s preaching career unfolded as an itinerant minister, delivering lectures across Britain that emphasized biblical authority and dispensational theology, often in Brethren assemblies like Bennett Park Hall in Blackheath. A close ally of John Nelson Darby, he edited Darby’s 34-volume Collected Writings and served as editor of The Bible Treasury from 1857 until his death, engaging scholars like Henry Alford and countering German higher criticism with works like his 1860 critical edition of Revelation, praised by Heinrich Ewald. His books—over 100, including Lectures on the Pentateuch and The Inspiration of the Scriptures—covered every Bible book, earning Charles Spurgeon’s quip that Kelly’s mind, “born for the universe,” was “narrowed by Darbyism.” In 1884, he split from Darby’s Exclusive Brethren over assembly governance, forming the “Kelly Brethren.”