James Fordyce

James Fordyce, DD (1720–1 October 1796), was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and poet. He is best known for his collection of sermons published in 1766 as Sermons for Young Women, popularly known as Fordyce's Sermons.

Early life The third son of George Fordyce (1663–1733) of Broadford, merchant and Provost of Aberdeen (who had twenty children), James Fordyce was born at Aberdeen in the last quarter of 1720. David Fordyce was his elder brother, Alexander Fordyce and Sir William Fordyce were his younger brothers, and George Fordyce, M.D., was his nephew. After the Aberdeen High School Fordyce went to Marischal College, where he was educated for the ministry. On 23 February 1743 he was licensed by the Aberdeen presbytery.

In September 1744 he was presented by the Crown to the second charge at Brechin, Forfarshire. His admission was delayed, when the parishioners stood out for their right of election; he was ordained at Brechin on 28 August 1745. His position was not comfortable, and he did not get on with his colleague. In 1753 he took his degree of M.A. at Marischal College, and in the same year he received a presentation to Alloa, Clackmannanshire. The parishioners wanted another man; however, Fordyce got a call on 5 June, demitted his charge at Brechin on 29 August, and was admitted at Alloa on 12 October 1753. Here he was on better terms with his congregation, and acquired a reputation as a preacher. He published several sermons; in 1760 his sermon before the General Assembly on the 'folly, infamy, and misery of unlawful pleasures' created an impression. The University of Glasgow made him a Doctor of Divinity. who died in Bath on 10 January 1823, aged 89. There was no issue of the marriage.

Works He published:

'The Eloquence of the Pulpit,' &c., 1752, (ordination sermon; often reprinted with David Fordyce's ' Theodorus'). 'The Temple of Virtue,' &c., 1757, (by David Fordyce; but this edition has additional matter by James Fordyce). 'The Folly ... of Unlawful Pleasures,' &c., 1760; 2nd edit. Edinb. 1768. 'Sermons to Young Women,' 1765, 2 vols., often reprinted. 'The Character and Conduct of the Female Sex,' 1776. 'Addresses to Young Men,' 1777, 2 vols. 'Addresses to the Deity,' 1785. 'Poems,' 1786. 'A Discourse on Pain,' 1791, (Chalmers refers to a certain 'cure for the cramp' here given, and connects it with a passage from Beaumont and Fletcher).

Also a sermon on popery (1754), reprinted 1779; ordination sermon and charge (1755); sermon on Eccles. xi. 1 (1757); funeral sermon for Samuel Lawrence (1760); sermon on Prov. viii. 6, 7 (1775); charge at ordination of James Lindsay (1783). His book Sermons for Young Women was also published in an American edition (First Boston Edition) in 1796, by Thomas Hill, printers.