WEBSTER, Alexander, D. D. was the son of James Webster, minister of the Tolbooth Church in Edinburgh, and was born in that city about the year 1707. He was only thirteen years of age at the death of his father, and of course could derive little from parental instruction or example. He studied, at the university of Edinburgh, the several branches of learning with great approbation, particularly those connected with the mathematics, for which he discovered an early predilection. He afterwards attended the lectures of the professor of divinity; and in the year 1733 he was ordained minister of the parish of Culross, and in June 1737 he was admitted as one of the ministers of the Tolbooth Church of Edinburgh. His eloquence was noble and manly, his piety conspicuous, and the discharge of his pastoral duties faithful and laborious. To these qualities he added an enlightened zeal for the external interests of the church, a jealousy of corruption, a hatred of false politics and tyrannical measures, which sometimes exposed him to calumny from the guilty, but secured him the esteem of all who could value independence of soul and integrity of heart.

The prosperity of fortune which placed Mr Webster in the church of his father, and restored him to the polished society of his native city, was not confined to these favours. Eleven days after his settlement in Edinburgh, he obtained the hand of Mary Erskine, a young lady of considerable fortune, and nearly related to the noble family of Dundonald. The genius of Mr Webster now began to unfold itself. Family connections extended his acquaintance with the nobility. Edinburgh then possessed a number of men, both in civil and ecclesiastical stations, who have saved or adorned their country. With these he was soon to cooperate in defending the Protestant interests from the arms and artifices of rebellion.

In the year 1733, five or six ministers seceded from the church; and being anxious to draw away as many as possible from the communion which they had renounced, they invited down to Scotland, in 1741, George Whitefield, a young preacher of great piety and extraordinary pulpit talents. On his way to Dunfermline, he was met and entertained at Edinburgh by Mr Webster and some of his brethren. From them he learned the state of church-parties in Scotland; and though he kept his promise of preaching first in Fife, he declined connecting himself with any particular sect. Disappointed of his influence and assistance, the Seceders ascribed the effects of his preaching to sorcery and the devil, while Webster, in a pamphlet which he published on the occasion, attributed them to the influence of the Holy Spirit, an opinion regarded by the Seceders as unspeakable wickedness.

In the year 1745, Webster remained in the city when it was taken by the rebels, and employed his universal popularity and vigorous eloquence in retaining the minds of the people in the interests of the house of Hanover. His exertions in this were not overlooked by most of the spirited gentlemen who acted in quelling the rebellion. He became an intimate friend of Duncan Forbes of Culloden, Lord Milton, and others. He preserved to the latest period of his career that activity both of mind and body which distinguished him in the prime of life, obtaining at last his frequent wish and prayer, an easy and peaceful death, after a very short indisposition, on the 25th of January 1784.

Dr Webster’s character as a minister was popular in the extreme. To the poor he was a father and a friend, a liberal patron to poor students. In his person he was tall, and of a thin and meagre habit. His features were strongly marked, and the conformity of the whole indicated genius and independence. To him the widows of the clergy are indebted for the establishment of the celebrated scheme, securing them in an annuity proportioned to certain rates of payment; the plan of which he matured in his own mind soon after he was appointed a minister of the Tolbooth Church. The success of the scheme has been complete.