Six Lectures On Fundamental Truths Connected With The Church Of God. 1865.

Excerpt:

Lectures on the Church of God
Lecture 1. "ONE BODY"
Eph. iv

The subject on which, with the Lord's help, I propose to enter tonight is the one body, the body of Christ; and this too not only as a great doctrine which the Holy Ghost has laid down with the utmost clearness, and throughout a considerable part of the New Testament, but also, as far as I am able in a short space, deducing some of its practical consequences, and showing its bearing upon the communion and the conduct of every member of it, that is, of every Christian.

But in order to develop the special characteristics of Christ's body, it will be necessary to explain how it differed from that which God revealed or set up in past dispensations; for there are distinctions, and even contrasts, between the past dealings of God and that which He is now accomplishing to the honour of His beloved Son. While there was of course always the only true God: while He had in times past those He loved upon earth; while He ever wrought by His Spirit; while there was necessarily faith at work in order to the blessing of souls; yet for all that there are essential and deeply important differences, which, none can overlook without loss to himself, without sure weakening of his testimony to others, and, above all, without coming short of the just perception of what God Himself has nearest to His own heart - His own glory in Christ.

Now it is perfectly plain, if we take up the Old Testament, that when man fell into sin God gave certain revelations of blessing, all of which find their centre in the Lord Jesus. We see this from the very beginning of Genesis. When sin entered, not only righteous government but grace instantly followed. God was there; and in the presence of the guilty pair, and in defiance of the serpent, the mercy of God spoke of that same blessed One of whom we are about to bear further and deeper glories. In due time God brought out, in a distinct and personal manner, blessings in connexion with Abraham and his seed. There we have the domain of promise not only revelation of mercy, but distinct promise to a given person and to his seed. This had not been the case in the garden of Eden. Man fell there; and it is evident that fallen man could not possibly be the object of the promise of God. There are promises for such: there could not be a promise to such. When Abraham received the promise, he was not a fallen man merely but a believing man. It was as one elect, called, and faithful, that God made him the depositary of promise. But it was when Adam fell, before there was anything of the operation of divine grace in him; it was when he and Eve had completely separated themselves from God, that mercy, entirely irrespective of their condition or desert, held out a revelation of grace in the person of Christ. The woman's Seed was presented more particularly as the destroyer of him that had wrought this deep and, as far as it went, irreparable mischief, irreparable to the creature, but only furnishing the opportunity for. God to bring out His own grace to the glory of Him who, bruised Himself, was to bruise the serpent's head.

About the Author: (From The Brethern Writers Hall of Fame Website)

THE last prominent survivor of the first generation of "Brethren" fell asleep on the 27th March, 1906. Mr. WILLIAM KELLY - the title-pages of whose writings generally bear only the initials "W. K." - was born in the north of Ireland in 1820. Being early left fatherless, he was already supporting himself by tuition to the family of the Rev. Mr. Cachemaille, Rector of Sark, when, in 1840, he made the Christian confession, and he shortly afterwards embraced the view of the church characteristic of "Brethren," with whom he then at once united. He retained a close connection with the Channel Islands for thirty years, residing chiefly in Guernsey, but for the latter half of his Christian career his home was at Blackheath.

He was a graduate, in classical honours, of Trinity College, Dublin, and was recognised as not merely a sound, erudite scholar, but a controversialist of formidable calibre. Besides aiding Dr. S. P. Tregelles in his investigations as a biblical textual critic, Mr. Kelly himself published, in 186o, a critical edition of the Revelation of John, which Professor Heinrich Ewald, of Göttingen, declared was the best piece of English work of the kind that he had seen.

Such studies were carried on concurrently with the editing of a periodical entitled The Prospect, which latterly was carried on by Mr. Kelly to the time of his death as The Bible Treasury, a paper that, as taken by various prominent clergy in academical circles, brought the editor into correspondence with such men as Dean Alford, Dr. Scott the lexicographer (whom he convinced of the true force of the word unhappily rendered in the Authorised Version of 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 as "is at hand"), Principal Edwards (who confessed to Mr. Kelly his conversion to the pre-millennial standpoint), with Professor Sanday, of Oxford, and other living theologians. After the capitulation of younger ecclesiastical associates to the Higher Criticism, Archdeacon Denison spoke of Mr. Kelly’s periodical as the only religious magazine any longer worth reading - so steadfast was the editor in his rejection of what he believed to be Christ-dishonouring views of the Bible. His simplicity and self-suppression may be illustrated by the reply he made to a Dublin professor who had expressed an opinion that, if Mr. Kelly did but settle there as a teacher, he would make a fortune - "For which world?"

His supreme delight was in ministering in things spiritual to those whom he described as the "few despised" ones of Christ’s flock. To such service he gave untiring energy, put forth to within two months of his decease. He identified himself whole-heartedly with the body of doctrine developed by the late John Nelson Darby, whose right-hand man he was for many years. The "Collected Writings" of "J. N. D." were edited by Mr. Kelly, who has done much by his own expositions to give currency to the views enshrined in them. His own merits were manifest alike in oral and written ministry.

Mr. C. H. Spurgeon, judging by the latter, has applied to Mr. Kelly, in the "Guide to Commentaries," the words of Pope, "born for the universe . . .". In the list of his writings will be found Lectures or Notes on all the books of the Bible. How long he retained his clearness and vigour of intellect comes out in the fact that several of his best expositions have appeared during the last fifteen years. Within the lifetime of "J. N. D." (1800-1882) Mr. Kelly was already well known to outsiders by his lectures on the Pentateuch, the Gospel of Matthew, the Revelation of John, the Church of God, and the New Testament Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, besides Notes on Romans, &c., recommended by Professor Sanday. Since 1860 he has put forth "In the Beginning" (Gen. i, 2), commended by Archbishop Benson an Exposition of the Prophecies of Isaiah, of the Gospel of John, of the Epistle to the Hebrews, of the Epistles of John; a volume of 6oo pages on "God’s Inspiration of the Scriptures;" and his last words on "Christ’s Coming Again," in which he vindicates the originality of "J. N. D." in regard of the "Secret Rapture"; this had been impugned by an American writer.

Shortly before he passed away, "W. K." said to one by his bedside: "There are three things real - the Cross, the enmity of the world, the love of God." At the interment was read Acts 20: 25-38, and amongst hymns sung that commencing "For ever with the Lord." An aged clergyman, who had long resorted to him for counsel, on hearing of his decease, wrote:
"He was pre-eminently ‘a faithful man, and feared God above many’ (Neh. 7. 2)."
E. E. W.