EDINBURGH] THE TOLBOOTH 119
bapt. 3rd Nov. 1680 ; James, bapt. 30th
Dec. 1681 j Alexander, bapt. 15th April
1683 ; Anna, bapt. 9th Sept. 1684 ; John,
bapt. 20th April 1686.—[Edin. Counc., Test.,
and Reg. (Bapt., Marr., and Bur.) ; Rule's
Sec. Vindication.]
JAMES KIRKTON, born 1628; M.A.
(Edinburgh, 22nd July 1647) ; bursar
of the Presb. of Jedburgh; min. of
Second Charge, Lanark, 1655 ; trans, to
Mertoun 1657 ; deprived 1662 ; resided for a
time in England and Holland ; called (after
the Toleration, 22nd July 1687) to a meeting-
house on the Castlehill, Edinburgh, and adm.
to this charge 25th Jan. 1691 ; died 17th Sept.
1699. He marr. 31st Dec. 1657, Elizabeth
(buried in Greyfriars, 7th April 1697),
daugh. of George Baillie of Jerviswood and
Mellerstain,and hadissue—George, surgeon,
Edinburgh ; Dr Andrew, died Sept. 1694
;
James, captain in the Navy ; William,
drowned in the Water of Leith, 1676
;
Elizabeth, died June 1673 ; Rachel, died
Aug. 1700. Publications
—
Life of Mr John
Welch (Edinburgh, 1703 ; Sel. Biog., i.) ; a
Sermon, being the last he preached (Edin-
burgh, 1726); The Secret and True History
of the Church of Scotland,from the Restora-
tion to 1678, edited (with a biographical
notice) by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe
(Edinburgh, 1817).—[Edin. Counc., Guild,
Lanark Presb., and Reg. (Bur.) ; Wodrow's
Hist. ; Edin. Chr. Lnst., xxv. ; Brodie's and
Fountainhall's Diaries; M'Crie's Life of
Knox, ii. ; S. Presb. Eloq., Leven and
Melv. Pap. ; Acts Pari., ix. ; Diet. Nat.
Biog.]
JOHN MATHISON, M.A.; called 19th
1706 Sept., and ord. 12th Dec. 1706
;
trans, to the High Kirk Parish 5th
Nov. 1710.
JOHN M'LAREN, born 1667, educated
1711 a^ Glasgow Univ. ; master of the
Grammar School, Glasgow ; licen.
25th March 1691 ; ord. to Kippen 1692
;
trans, to Carstairs 1699 ; called 20th March,
trans, and adm. 29th July 1711. He refused
to take the Oath of Abjuration in 1712, and
was one of six who protested against the
loosing from their parochial charges of
Ebenezer Erskine and his friends, 16th
Nov. 1733. He died 11th July 1734. He
marr. (1) 25th July 1695, Eupham Park,
and had issue—Helen (marr. 10th Nov.
1728, William Tod, merchant, Edinburgh)
:
(2) Agnes, daugh. of William Mein, min. of
Dalkeith. Publications
—
The New Scheme
of Doctrine contained in the Ansivers of Mi-
John Simson, Professor of Divinity in the
College of Glasgow (Edinburgh, 1717) ; The
Spiritual Burgess, a sermon (Edinburgh,
1735). He is said to have drawn up a
reply to Limborch's System of Divinity.—
[Brown's Gosp. Truth; Wodrow's Anal., iii.]
JOHN TAYLOR, M.A. (Edinburgh,
1735 12th May 1703) ; licen. by Presb. of
Edinburgh 18th Nov. 1713 ; ord. to
Tillicoultry 1714 ; trans, to Alloa 1728
;
trans, and adm. 27th March 1735 ; died
12th Aug. 1736, aged about 54. He marr.,
and had issue—William ; Cecilia (marr.
Henry Sinclair, writer, Edinburgh); Marion
(marr. Simon Bennet, brewer, Edinburgh).
—[Wodrow's Anal., iii. ; Erskines Supp. to
Gillies's Hist. Collect. ; Kay's Portr., i.]
ALEXANDER WEBSTER, born 1707,
-,__,_ son of James W., min. of the Second
Charge ; educated at High School
and Univ. of Edinburgh ; licen. by Presb.
of Haddington 13th March 1733; ord. to
Culross 6th Sept. 1733; called 6th Jan.,
trans, and adm. 2nd June 1737. To him
the Church is indebted for the promotion
and prosperity of its fund for ministers'
widows and children. He received the
thanks of the General Assembly, 15th May
1744, "for the extraordinary pains and
trouble taken by him in the rise and pro-
gress of the scheme," the first institution of
its kind in Scotland. He was appointed
chaplain to Frederick, Prince of Wales,
1748, and was Moderator of Assembly, 24th
May 1753. In 1755 he drew up an account
of the people, and made what was practi-
cally the first census of the population of
Scotland for the information of Govern-
ment ; D.D. (Edinburgh, 24th Nov. 1760)
;
one of an Assembly deputation who pre-
sented an address to George III. on his
accession, 20th Dec. 1760 ; general collector
of the Ministers' Widows' Fund, 26th June
1771. He was one of His Majesty's Chap-