nto a calm
At his command and will;
So that the waves that raged before,
Now quiet are and still.

Then are _they_ glad, because at rest
And quiet now they be:
So to the haven he them brings,
Which they desired to see.'"

In the end of 1842 George Wilson was told by an eminent surgeon that
he must choose between certain death and the amputation of a foot
involving possible death. He agreed at once to the operation being
performed, but begged for a week in which to prepare for it. He had
always been a charming personality, and had lived a life that was
outwardly blameless; but he had never given very serious thought to
religion. Now, however, when he was face to face with death, the great
eternal verities became more real to him, and during the week of
respite the study of the New Testament and the counsel and sympathy
and prayers of his friend Cairns prepared him to face his trial with
calmness, and with "a trembling hope in Christ" in his heart. The
two friends, who had thus been brought so closely together, were
henceforth to be more to each other than they had ever been before.

The next year, 1843, was a memorable one in the ecclesiastical history
of Scotland. Cairns, though not sympathising with the demand of the
Non-Intrusion party in the Church of Scotland for absolute spiritual
independence within an Established Church, had an intense admiration
for Chalmers, and was filled with the greatest enthusiasm when he
and the party whom he led on the great 18th of May clung fast to
the Independence and left the Establishment behind them. Indeed his
enthusiasm ran positively wild, for it is recorded that, when the
great procession came out of St. Andrew's Church, Cairns went
hurrahing and tossing up his hat in front of it and all the way down
the hill to Tanfield Hall. To Miss Darling, who had no sympathy with
the Free Church movement, he wrote: "I know our difference of opinion
here. But you will pardon me for saying that I have never felt more
profound emotions of gratitude to God, of reverence for Christianity,
of admiration of moral principle, and of pride in the honesty and
courage of Scotsmen, than I did on that memorable day."

In the autumn of this year he was able to carry out a project which
he had had before him, and for which he had been saving up his money
for a long time. This was the spending of a year on the Continent.
It was by no means so common in those days as it has sin