At one time Webster’s Close used to exist in Edinburgh, near Castlehill, roughly where Boswell’s Court is today. It was from a house in this close that the Revd Dr Alexander Webster would sally forth to lead the charge of the High Flyers against the Moderates. Essentially the High Flyers were the evangelicals and the Moderates were the liberals of the 18th century. Webster was so famous as a preacher in Edinburgh that it was said “it was easier to get a seat in the Kingdom of Heaven than in the Tolbooth Kirk”, where he was the minister for 47 years (1737-1784). His magnetic preaching seemed to draw in the most unlikely visitors to his packed congregation, such as Robert Burns the national poet and David Hume, the sceptical philosopher.
It was Webster who invited the human fireball, George Whitefield, to preach in Edinburgh and Scotland, and who, as a Presbyterian minister, defended the Methodists. Organising the events through his considerable networks, he would accompany Whitefield as he preached to crowds said to be 15,000 strong in St Giles’ churchyard, in the King’s Park (today’s Holyrood Park), and in the grounds of the Trinity Hospital (today’s George Heriot School). On 15 August 1742, he was there on the green at Cambuslang near Glasgow, to take it in turns to preach alongside Whitefield and ten other ministers who witnessed an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the estimated crowd of 40,000, many of whom were “bathed in tears”.
Despite his evangelistic fervour though, Webster was a known alcoholic who could drink any man under the table and still remain standing and fairly clear-headed. His craving for claret meant that he would often even take his wine into the pulpit with him, so he could have a swig. Such a habit was viewed with mixed responses by the locals, from horror to amusement. You would have thought that his brain would have been fuddled with all that wine, yet he had such a sharp mind that the government called on his skill as a statistician to lead the first official census for Scotland’s population, resulting in a return of 1,265,380 people in 1755. Adam Smith, the author of the Wealth of Nations, could admit that “of all men I have ever known, [Webster is] the most skilful in political arithmetic”. Webster also combined his mathematical aptitude with pastoral compassion, establishing, with another clergyman, Revd Dr Wallace, the first proper insurance fund for widows of the clergy in Scotland, in 1748. It was his calculations and model that set a precedent for modern insurance companies to follow.
His indefatigable lifestyle meant that he was right in the heart of Edinburgh, being one of the key figures in advising magistrates about the development of the New Town. He seemed to pop up everywhere, influencing the city and nation for its prosperity, and being one of the movers and shakers of Scotland. It is a stark reminder to us that despite his particular weakness for wine, he was a vessel mightily used through God’s grace.
“Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them” (Psalm 111:2, KJV).
Image: Revd Dr Alexander Webster (1707-1784) preaching in the Tolbooth Kirk in Edinburgh: John Kay, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons