James Black (1879-1949) was born in Rothesay, Scotland, in 1879.

While in school, a teacher described one of his essays as the most original, though not the best informed. Originality was one of the outstanding marks of his work as a preacher.

Black was educated at Glasgow University, the United Free Church College in Glasgow, and Marburg University. He was ordained in 1903.

Called to Castle Hill Church in Forres (on the North East coast of Scotland), after a short but memorable ministry there he went to Broughton Place Church in Edinburgh. There he built his reputation as a preacher. He was there from 1907 to 1921, serving as a chaplain in the armed forces from 1915 to 1918.

In 1921, Black was called to St. George's West, Edinburgh, in succession to Dr. John Kelman. This is the church where Alexander Whyte, his own brother Hugh Black, and Kelman had set up a standard of preaching which was not easy to live up to.

James Black not only maintained the reputation of that noted pulpit, he added lustre to it. He became Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1938, and was appointed Chaplain to the King of Scotland in 1942.

Black died in October, 1949. In the memorial sermon -- preached by his successor at St. George's, the Rev. Murdo E. Macdonald -- he stressed what he regarded as the chief emphases of Dr. Black's preaching: thankfulness, victory, loyalty and radiant certainty.

In his prime, James Black was quite irresistible as a preacher, and he retained much of that power to the very end.

What a pulpit figure he made! His great shock of white hair gave him the appearance of some Covenanter of old, but in his face and eyes there was a perennial youthfulness. Occasionally he revealed the spirit of a boy who refused to grow up; no wonder that his sermons to children were inimitable.

The human note was dominant in everything Black said or wrote. He knew the questions which thoughtful men ask of the teacher of religion and he knew the answers given by an instructed and liberal evangelicalism. Yet he knew also that what men need most is not answers to conundrums but sheer sympathy and friendship.

Black's first book of sermons preached in Broughton Place is entitled The Burden of the Weeks. It contains twenty-five sermons, fifteen on Old Testament texts. "Religion as a fine art" is the title given to a sermon on Ezekiel 33:32. "Playing on the low strings" is a sermon on the text: "Will the son of Jesse give everyone fields and vineyards?" (I Sam. 22:7).

A later book, The Dilemma of Jesus, presents twelve studies of Jesus seen amid the adventures of His own soul, when He settled His ways at the cross-roads of life and walked on His clear way to God.

An Apology for Rogues, sermons preached in Australia, is a plea for a reevalution of some of the outstanding characters in the Bible who have been criticized and condemned. He seeks to build his case for each person on the facts narrated in biblical history. He deals with Cain, Esau, Korah, Balaam, Saul, Jezebel, Gehazi, the Elder Brother, Pilate, the impenitent thief, Ananias and Demas. This book shows his power of imagination and his dramatic gifts; it is a notable example of character drawing.