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He was born at Ayton
Hill, Berwickshire, on 23 August 1818, the son of John Cairns, a
shepherd, and his wife, Alison Murray.
He was educated at Ayton and Oldcambus, Berwickshire, he was for three
years a herd, doing meanwhile private work for his school-master. In
1834, he entered the University of Edinburgh, and, while diversifying
his curriculum with teaching in his native parish and elsewhere, became
the most distinguished student of his day. Sir William Hamilton
(1788-1856), in some instances, discussed Cairns's metaphysical opinions
at considerable length in the class-room, and Professor Wilson highly
eulogised his talents and his attainments in literature, philosophy, and
science. Speaking to his class of a certain mathematical problem that
Cairns had solved, Professor Kelland said that it had been solved by
only one other of his thousands of students. Cairns was associated with
Alexander Campbell Fraser, David Masson, and other leading students in
organising the Metaphysical Society for weekly philosophical
discussions. He graduated MA in 1841, being facile princeps in classics
and philosophy, and equal first in mathematics.
Having entered the Presbyterian Secession Hall in 1840, Cairns continued
his brilliant career as a student. In 1843 the movement that culminated
in the formation of the Free Church aroused his interest, and an article
of his in the 'Secession Magazine' prompted inquiries regarding the
writer from Thomas Chalmers. At the end of 1843, Cairns officiated for a
month in an English independent chapel at Hamburg, and he spent the
winter and spring of 1843-4 at Berlin, ardently studying the German
language, philosophy, and theology. On 1 May, he went on a three months'
tour through Germany, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, writing home
descriptive and critical letters of great interest. Returning to
Scotland, he was licensed as a preacher on 3 February 1845, and on 6
August of the same year he was ordained minister of Golden Square
Church, Berwick-on-Tweed. Here he became one of the foremost of Scottish
preachers — notable for certain quaint but attractive peculiarities of
manner, but above all for his force and impressiveness of appeal — and
he declined several invitations to important charges, metropolitan and
other, and to professorships both in Great Britain and Canada.
In 1849, visiting the English lakes, Cairns met Wordsworth, from whom he
elicited some characteristic views on philosophy and the descriptive
graces of Cowper. Interesting himself in public questions at home, he
delivered his first great platform speech at Berwick in 1856, when he
successfully combated a proposal favouring the introduction into
Scotland of the methods of the continental Sunday. In 1857, he addressed
in German the members of the Evangelical Alliance in Berlin, having been
chosen to represent English-speaking Christendom on the occasion. In
1858 the University of Edinburgh conferred on him the honorary degree of
D.D., and in 1859, on the death of John Lee (1779-1859), principal of
the University, he declined the invitation of the Edinburgh town
councillors to be nominated as his successor.
From 1863 to 1873, the question of union between the United Presbyterian
Church and the Free Church of Scotland occupied much of Cairn's
attention, but the difficulty was unripe for settlement. Meanwhile, in
August 1867, Cairns became professor of apologetics in the United
Presbyterian Theological Hall, retaining his charge at Berwick. His
students testify to his zeal and success, especially recalling his
insistence on the essential harmony between culture and reason. His
numerous engagements impaired his strength, and in the autumn of 1868 he
recruited on the continent, continuing the process next spring by a
walking tour on the Scottish borders, and spending the following autumn
in Italy. In May 1872, he was moderator of the United Presbyterian
synod, and a few weeks later he officially represented his church in
Paris at the first meeting of the Reformed Synod of France. On 16 May
1876, he was appointed joint professor of systematic theology and
apologetics with James Harper, principal of the United Presbyterian
Theological College. On 18 June, he preached a powerful and touching
farewell sermon to an enormous congregation, thus severing his official
connection with Berwick, where, however, he frequently preached
afterwards.
In the spring of 1877, at the request of Bishop Laughton, Cairns
lectured on Christianity in London in the interests of the Jews, and in
April the Free Church, making the first exception in his case, appointed
him its Cunningham lecturer. In the autumn, he preached for some weeks
at Christiania, responding to an invitation to check a threatened schism
in the state church of Norway.
He preached in Norsk, specially learned for the purpose. Next summer he
was a fortnight in Paris, in connection with the M'All missions, and on
the way formed one of a deputation of Scottish ministers who expressed
sympathy with Mr. Gladstone in his attitude on the Bulgarian atrocities.
While thus assisting elsewhere he worked hard at the United Presbyterian
synod this same year in connection with the declaratory act of the
church. Diversity of occupation and interest — even on occasion the
learning of a new language — seemed indispensable for the exercise of
his extraordinary energies and activities. On the death of Principal
Harper he was appointed principal of the United Presbyterian Theological
College, 8 May 1879. He delivered the Cunningham lecture in 1880, his
subject being the unbelief of the eighteenth century. Five months of the
same year he spent in an American tour, his personality and preaching
everywhere making a deep impression. About the same time he was chairman
of a committee of eminent Protestant theologians, European and American,
who discussed the possibility of formulating a common creed for the
reformed churches.
In 1884, on the occasion of her tercentenary celebrations, University of
Edinburgh included Cairns among the distinguished Scotsmen on whom she
conferred the honorary degree of LL.D. The death of a colleague in 1886
greatly increased his work, and yet about this time he completed a
systematic study of Arabic, and between 1882 and 1886 he had learned
Danish and Dutch, the former to qualify him for a meeting of the
Evangelical Alliance at Copenhagen, and the latter to enable him to read
Kuenen's theological works in the original. In May 1888, his portrait,
by W. E. Lockhart, R.A., was presented to the synod by united
presbyterian ministers and laymen. He spent some time of 1890 in Berlin
and Amsterdam, mainly acquainting himself with the ways of younger
theologians. On his return he wrote an elaborate article on current
theology for the Presbyterian and Reformed Review. In July 1891, he
preached his last sermon in the church of his brother at Stitchel, near
Kelso, and in the autumn of that year the doctors forbade further
professional work. He resigned his post on 23 Feb. following, and he
died at 10 Spence Street, Edinburgh, on 12 March 1892.
He was buried in Echo Bank Cemetery in southern Edinburgh, now known as
Newington Cemetery. A large monument against the northern boundary marks
his grave.
Principal
Cairns
By John Cairns from the Famous Scots Series (1903) (pdf) |
