By lunch-time one found that a morning's stint of creative work had been accomplished .sx Then the afternoon was devoted to pastoral visitation , upon which he would go with both a list of members in a given district and a list of special cases folk in sickness or sorrow or some other need .sx By wise management of his time he succeeded in overtaking a large number of calls in an afternoon .sx Sometimes he would manage to return half an hour before dinner-time and slip into his study , where behind a closed door he would tear the essential message out of some book or article , or prepare himself for some occasional address to be delivered that evening .sx After dinner , if there was no church service or meeting , he almost invariably had callers till ten or ten-thirty .sx Then , after having written up his notes for the day , came the precious quiet hour with pipe and book till midnight .sx Really free evenings were few and far between , but a wondrous treat when they did arrive .sx He refused absolutely to answer any telephone calls after 9.30 a.m. unless it chanced to be a call of real urgency , and oft and many were the calls and messages I had to answer and the importunate people I had to stave off .sx I know I was not always loved when I was at the telephone , but that is one of a minister's wife's most difficult duties trying to make people realise that it is not the length of time they keep him but the breaking of the continuity of thought that really matters and the " Can't-I-speak-to-him-for-just-one-minute " folk are as serious a menace to a minister's work as those who would call on a Saturday forenoon and look astonished and hurt when told they could not see him at all .sx It was only by keeping the morning hours sacred to study every day in the week that he managed to keep level with his great task , and go into the pulpit on Sundays with a fresh message well prepared for his people .sx Of course there came at intervals morning interruptions such as funerals or meetings , and these he met with his usual unruffled calm .sx I can truthfully say that in twenty-five years I never heard him make one .sx complaint or grumble when the call to duty came , even when it meant postponing or putting off long-made plans , or breaking into holidays .sx His faithfulness to every call no matter what the hour of day or night might be ( and frequently he was called out very late at night ) was a source of constant wonder to me .sx Many people thought , and said , that he took too little part in the public and administrative affairs of the church work , but they did not know how courageously and cheerfully he worked , handicapped almost constantly by digestive trouble which caused him extreme discomfort and often severe pain .sx He never complained , nor would he accept sympathy , but he knew his own limitations , knew how far his strength would carry him , so he concentrated all his powers on the work that lay to his hand in Wellington .sx Who , looking on his work there during twenty-seven years as preacher and pastor , will not admit that he knew best ?sx Self-advertisement was so abhorrent to him that people never knew how many honouring invitations he received ( and refused ) from all over the world .sx Invitations came from many important and influential churches , either asking him to become their minister , or to preach for a stated time ; or requests that he should undertake lecture tours in America , Canada , or Australia .sx I can remember at least four different Chairs at home and in the States that he was invited to occupy .sx All these requests he considered prayer-fully , then quietly turned down .sx To stand in high places or to gain notoriety made no appeal to his simple mind , and nothing made him more angry than when the word " popularity " was applied to himself or to his ministry .sx His one deep desire was to spend , and be spent , in the service of Christ so that he might be an influence for the highest and best , in the civic and church life of the city he loved so well .sx His passionate love for the city of his birth and all that pertained to her welfare was one of the outstanding characteristics of the man , and he always said it would take a very strong force to move him from Wellington and Glasgow .sx The truth of these assertions was shown in the light of many .sx attempts that were made throughout his ministry .sx As someone truly has said :sx " He did not dig many channels , but the one he dug was very deep .sx " Few realised how his sensitive nature suffered on account of the non-carrying power of his voice , the result of a serious illness in his student days , or how the fear that he would not be heard made him refuse many invitations to speak and preach in untried buildings .sx He was rarely if ever nervous about any public appearance , because nothing was ever left to chance and he was always carefully prepared ; but I know how the dread of not being well heard shadowed his biggest hours , and made him concentrate more and more on his own congregation and its work , where he was loved and the people were accustomed to his voice .sx In spite of this disability , and the fact that some complained of being unable to hear him distinctly , the crowds that flocked to Wellington never lessened .sx This comforted his heart , and he used to remark whimsically :sx " They don't come to admire me , so some of them must hear me .sx " His voice , though low-pitched and not strong , was a perfectly trained voice .sx He knew it could only carry by the greatest attention to its compass , and it had a haunting quietness that brought peace and comfort to many a troubled heart .sx " In St. John's , Dundee , which during his ministry was acoustically one of the worst churches in Scotland for a voice such as his , " there were many of the somewhat deaf and those who sat in the back pews who had the utmost difficulty in catching the whole of his sermons , yet , strange to say , these very people were soon the most enthusiastic among his listeners and admirers .sx " A delightful and significant incident occurred when the news spread that Welling-ton Church , Glasgow , had again approached their minister , and it was probable that he would accept the call .sx The whole body of office-bearers , elders and deacons waited on the minister at the manse to give him an overwhelming impression of their desire that he should stay with them .sx After hearing their plea and telling them how much touched he was by their presence .sx and words , he said that in all frankness he ought to tell them that he knew he was not well heard in St. John's , and that it might be well for them to have a preacher with a stronger voice .sx Thereupon came the assurance from all sides , " We hear you fine , Mr. Morrison ; we hear you fine , " and from one of the oldest and best-loved elders , to whom the Doric was dear , came this beautiful tribute :sx " It's like this , ye see , we would rather hear a' we dae , frae Mister Morrison , than hear a' we would hear frae onybody else .sx An' that settles it , I'm thinkin' .sx " His method was not earthquake , wind or fire , but the voice of gentle stillness , and it conquered many who might have resisted more clamorous methods .sx An invitation which came to him in 1922 , but which he felt obliged to refuse , was from the College Committee of the United Free Church , offering him the appointment of Warrack Lecturer on Preaching , in the three colleges of the Church .sx The invitation appealed much to his mind , but , as I have said , he knew his limitations , and his own work must not suffer .sx Scarcely a year passed without his re- .sx ceiving invitations to preach in America and Canada , but he consistently refused all overtures , never taking preaching engagements during his holidays , as he always said his own congregations had first claim on the best he could give .sx However , after his tour - in South Africa such kind and insistent letters came from both the United States and Canada , beseeching him to consider a two months' spring visit , that he had practically settled that we should go in 1929 .sx However , ere then came the call which cannot be ignored , and he journeyed to that land from which there is no returning .sx A favourite saying of his , and one which he carried out to the letter in his daily life , was " Do it now .sx " Had he not followed this motto closely he could never have carried through the work that was hourly accumulating .sx He had a place for everything in his mind , and this characteristic showed in his work and daily habits .sx He had one peculiar trick which always intrigued people .sx Generally after a long afternoon of visiting he would come home with several knots tied in his handkerchief .sx These were to remind him of .sx requests , promises or incidents met with during his afternoon's visiting , and he would go straight into his study , before removing his hat , and untie the knots after having taken notes of their significance .sx One noticed his neatness .sx His study was a miracle of tidiness and his desk did not betray a disorderly sheet of paper .sx It was indicative of the man's mind .sx He left nothing in his sentences or in his congregation's affairs at loose ends .sx He knew where to lay his hand on every book and paper without a moment's delay .sx He rarely sat at his big desk when really working , but in an upright chair by the fire , and by his side stood a small table to hold necessary papers and books .sx He had also a high-standing desk , where all books of reference , dictionaries , etc. , stood .sx At the end of the study there was a tall cupboard made to his own design and here all writing materials , ink , blotting-paper , etc. , were kept .sx The lower part was divided into drawers of different sizes , and in them was stored all his sermon and other manuscript , each with the number of times preached , and the place and date marked on it .sx The study at alltimes was a haven of order , peace and comfort .sx There was always a large coal fire burning , and flowers in abundance , and to many , in that quiet room there came peace of heart and mind , conviction after wavering doubt , and fresh courage and determination to begin anew .sx He loved that study , and before a holiday was half over would be wearying to get back to it and his books .sx There is no day of rest in a minister's week , Sunday least of all , and Dr. Morrison's Sundays were full and taxing to a degree .sx He rose and breakfasted at the usual time , the only difference in the routine being that the reading at worship was omitted and only a prayer of intercession for blessing on the day's work was offered .sx From nine till ten-thirty he was in his study , then he walked very leisurely up the hill to the church , arriving there about ten minutes before the hour of service .sx Extract of letter from Rev. Stuart Parker , Toronto :sx An Australian's impression of a service at Wellington :sx No one was allowed to enter the vestry before service ( unless on a matter of extreme urgency ) except Mr. Turner , the organist .sx The last few moments before service perhaps among the most solemn and sacred in a minister's life were spent alone , and when he entered the church there was always a look of quiet calm and strength on his face as if he had come straight from the Presence .sx The friendship , understanding and sympathy between Dr. Morrison and Mr. Turner through all the years was a very strong bond , and I shall allow him in his own words , taken from his speech on the occasion of Mr. Turner's semi-jubilee , as organist in Wellington to testify to this .sx