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CAIRNS, JOHN (1818–1892)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 953 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAIRNS, See also:JOHN (1818–1892) , Scottish Presbyterian divine, was See also:born at Ayton See also:Hill, See also:Berwickshire, on the 23rd of See also:August 1818, the son of a shepherd. He went to school at Ayton and Oldcambus, Berwickshire, and was then for three years a See also:herd boy, but kept up his See also:education. In 1834 he entered See also:Edinburgh University, but during 1836 and 1837, owing to See also:financial straits, taught in a school at Ayton. In See also:November 1837 he returned to Edinburgh, where he became the most distinguished student of his See also:time, graduating M.A. in 1841, first in See also:classics and See also:philosophy and bracketed first in See also:mathematics. While at Edinburgh he organized the Metaphysical Society along with A. See also:Campbell See also:Fraser and See also:David See also:Masson. He entered the Presbyterian See also:Secession See also:Hall in 184o, and in 1843 wrote an See also:article in the Secession See also:Magazine on the See also:Free See also:Church See also:movement, which aroused the See also:interest of See also:Thomas See also:Chalmers. The years 1843–1844 he spent at See also:Berlin studying See also:German philosophy and See also:theology. He was licensed as preacher on the 3rd of See also:February 1845, and on the 6th of August ordained as See also:minister of See also:Golden Square Church, See also:Berwick-on-See also:Tweed. There his See also:preaching was distinguished by its impressiveness and by a broad and unaffected humanity. He had many " calls " to other churches, but See also:chose to remain at Berwick. In 1857 he was one of the representatives at the See also:meeting of the Evangelical See also:Alliance in Berlin, and in 1858 Edinburgh University conferred on him an honorary D.D.

In the following See also:

year he declined an invitation to become See also:principal of Edinburgh University. In 1872 he was elected See also:moderator of the See also:United Presbyterian See also:Synod and represented his church in See also:Paris at the first meeting of the Reformed Synod of See also:France. In May 1876, he was appointed See also:joint See also:professor of systematic theology and See also:apologetics with See also:James Harper, principal of the United Presbyterian Theological See also:College, whom he succeeded as principal in 1879. He was an indefatigable worker and See also:speaker, and in See also:order to facilitate his efforts in other countries and other literatures he learnt Arabic, Norse, Danish and Dutch. In 1890 he visited Berlin and See also:Amsterdam to acquaint himself with the ways of younger theologians, especially with the Ritschlians, whose See also:work he appreciated but did not accept as final. On his return he wrote a See also:long article on " See also:Recent Scottish Theology " for the Presbyterian and Reformed See also:Review, for which he read over every theological work of See also:note published in See also:Scotland during the preceding See also:half-See also:century. He died on the 12th of See also:March, 1892, at Edinburgh. Among his principal publications are An Examination of See also:Ferrier's " Knowing and Being," and the Scottish Philosophy—(a work which gave him the reputation of being an See also:independent Hamiltonian in philosophy); Memoir of John See also:Brown, D.D. (186o); Romanism and See also:Rationalism (1863); Outlines of Apologetical Theology (1867); The See also:Doctrine of the::See also:CAIRO 953 Presbyterian Church (1876); Unbelief in the 18th Century (x881); Doctrinal Principles of the United Presbyterian Church (Dr See also:Blair's See also:Manual, z888). See MacEwen's See also:Life and See also:Letter.; of John Cairns (1895). (D.

End of Article: CAIRNS, JOHN (1818–1892)

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