1. Sweet is the savour of His Name
Who suffered in His people’s stead;
His portion here, reproach and shame:
He liveth now; He once was dead.
2. He once was dead; the very same
Who sits on yonder throne above;
Who bears in heaven the greatest Name,
Whom angels serve, whom angels love.
3. He once was dead; the very same
Who made the worlds—a work of power,
Who now upholds the mighty frame,
And keeps it till the final hour.
4. He once was dead; but now He lives,
His glory fills all heaven above;
Its blessedness to heaven He gives,
The fountain He of joy and love.
5. His people shall His triumph share,
With Him shall live, and with Him reign;
In heaven their joy is full, for there
They see THE LAMB for sinners slain.
This hymn, left as “anonymous” in our hymnbook (Believers’ Hymn Book #256), actually appears as HYMN DCXXXIX [639] in Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture, by Thomas Kelly (published in 1853), and it is he who should be credited with its authorship.
Kelly referenced Revelation 1:18, “I am alive for evermore,” and included two more verses between 3 and 4, above:
He once was dead, the very same
Who soon will come with glory crowned;
His breath shall kindle then a flame
That shall consume the world around.
He once was dead, the very same
At whose command the dead shall rise,
To sorrow some, and endless shame,
And some to everlasting joys.
Thomas Kelly was born in Dublin on July 13, 1769, the son of a judge of the same name, residing at Kellyville House, Athy. We know little of his mother or of his childhood, other than the simple statement, “his primary education was obtained at Portarlington and Kilkenny. He received his secondary education at Trinity College of Dublin University.” After graduation, he intended to study law so he transferred to the Temple bar in London. Here he encountered Hutchinson’s Moses’ Principia, with the consequent need to study Hebrew. This in turn led him to William Romaine’s works and a determination “to forsake the world and all its attractions and take up the study of theology.” The ascetic lifestyle he adopted put his very life in danger until “he found peace and comfort through faith in the grace of God through Jesus Christ.”
The clergy and even his own family opposed him. Kelly’s parents regarded his conversion as a calamity, and his mother exclaimed, “a change has taken place, but for the worse!” They were mortified that their only son, heir to the family estate, had stooped to unite himself with “Methodists and Swaddlers.” One biographer happily reports that, “After
He was ordained in the Established Church in Ireland in 1792 and began to preach a clear gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. This soon upset Archbishop Fowler of Dublin, and both Kelly and his friend Rowland Hill were barred from preaching. This didn’t stop them, of course, and Kelly soon associated himself with the dissenters. Being a wealthy man, he was able to build chapels with his own money in Dublin (Blackrock), Portarlington, Athy, Wexford and Waterford.
In about 1800, Kelly married a Miss Tighe of Rosanna, Wicklow, who shared his spiritual views, and they had at least one child, a daughter. Then, in 1802, he published A Collection of Psalms and Hymns that included thirty-three of his own works. Over the next fifty years, he steadily added to his portfolio until, with the final edition of Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture in 1853, he filled out a volume with 765 of his own works.
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| Kelly Memorial at Ballintubbert |
A few other notable hymns from Kelly’s pen include Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious; Meeting in the Saviour’s Name; Praise the Saviour, ye who know Him; and We’ll sing of the Shepherd that died.
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