 Echlin, however, turned out to be his bitter enemy, and in September 1631, Blair was suspended from the exercise of his ministerial functions, the ostensible reason being that he had taken part (with John Livingston) in a celebration of the Lord's Supper at the Kirk of Shotts; and on 4 May 1632 he was deposed.Through the intervention of Charles I. sentence was removed in May 1634, but he was again deposed by Echlin in November that same year.He was now bent on emigrating to New England, but the ship in which he and other ministers, including John Livingstone, sailed was driven back by stress of weather, a sign, as Blair thought, that his services were still required at home.