Once when a call to him was in process which he had in its initial stages discouraged, and which he knew that he could not accept, his sister, who had set her heart on furnishing an empty bedroom in the manse at Berwick, was peremptorily bidden to stay her hand lest he might thereby seem to be prejudging that which was not yet before him.  Two of the calls he received deserve separate mention.  One was in 1855 from Greyfriars Church, Glasgow, at that time the principal United Presbyterian congregation in the city.  All sorts of influences were brought to bear upon him to accept it, and for a time he was in grave doubt as to whether it might not be his duty to do so.  But two considerations especially decided him to remain in Berwick.  One was the state of his health, which was not at that time very good; and the other was the pathetic one, that he wanted to write that book which was never to be written.

Nine years later, in 1864, a yet more determined attempt was made to secure him for Edinburgh.  A new congregation had been formed at Morningside, one of the southern suburbs of the city, and it was thought that this would offer a sphere of work and of influence worthy of his powers.  A call was accordingly addressed to him, and it was backed up by representations of an almost unique character and weight.  The Free Church leaders, with whom he was then brought into close touch by the Union negotiations, urged him to come to Edinburgh.  A memorial, signed by one hundred and sixty-seven United Presbyterian elders in the city, told him that, in the interests of their Church, it was of the utmost importance that he should do so.  Another memorial, signed by several hundred students at the University, put the matter from their point of view.  A still more remarkable document was the following:—­

“The subscribers, understanding that the Rev. Dr. Cairns has received a call to the congregation of Morningside, desire to express their earnest and strong conviction that his removal to Edinburgh would be a signal benefit to vital religion throughout Scotland, and more especially in the metropolis, where his great intellectual powers, his deep and wide scholarship, his mastery of the literature of modern unbelief, and the commanding simplicity and godly sincerity of his personal character and public teaching, would find an ample field for their full and immediate exercise.”

This was signed (amongst others) by three Judges of the Court of Session, by the Lord Advocate, by the Principal and seven of the Professors of the University, and by such distinguished ministers and citizens as Dr. Candlish, Dr. Hanna, Dr. Lindsay Alexander, Adam Black, Dr. John Brown, and Charles Cowan.  It was a remarkable tribute (Adam Black in giving his name said, “This is more than ever was done for Dr. Chalmers"), and it made a deep impression on Dr. Cairns.  The Wallace Green congregation, however, sought to counteract it by an argument which amusingly shows