Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted by Thomas Kelly

Born: Ju­ly 13, 1769, Kellyville, Strad­bal­ly, Queens Coun­ty, Ire­land.

Died: May 14, 1855, Dub­lin, Ire­land.

Buried: Near the Kel­ly fam­i­ly home at Kel­ly­ville, Bal­ly­ad­ams, Queens Coun­ty


Son of a judge, Kelly at­tend­ed Trin­i­ty Coll­ege (BA 1789) and planned to be a law­yer. Af­ter con­vert­ing to Christ, though, his ca­reer plans changed to the min­is­try. He be­came an Ang­li­can priest in 1792, but event­u­al­ly be­came one of the fa­mous “dis­sent­ing” min­is­ters. He wrote over 760 hymns. Mil­ler’s Sing­ers of the Church (1869) says of him:

"Mr. Kelly was a man of great and var­ied learn­ing, skilled in the Or­i­ent­al tongues, and an ex­cel­lent Bi­ble cri­tic. He was pos­sessed al­so of mu­sic­al tal­ent, and com­posed and pub­lished a work that was re­ceived with fa­vour, con­sist­ing of mu­sic adapt­ed to ev­ery form of me­tre in his hymn-book. Na­tur­al­ly of an am­i­a­ble dis­po­si­tion and tho­rough in his Christ­ian pi­e­ty, Mr. Kel­ly be­came the friend of good men, and the ad­vo­cate of ev­ery worthy, be­ne­vo­lent, and re­li­gious cause. He was ad­mired alike for his zeal and his hu­mil­i­ty; and his lib­er­al­ity found am­ple scope in Ire­land, es­pe­cial­ly dur­ing the year of fam­ine."

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
’Tis a true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation,
Christ the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.