Historic Paxton, her days and her ways, 1722-1913

There are heroes in old Paxton to-day — the breed of strong men and true she mothers has not died out — but may the day be far distant when the sons of the church are again called to battle, sword in hand, for their fatherland and their homes. < W o I — » O ^ >, CD £ pq a^ o -4— » CO <u "g w bi) "3 _, THE FIGHTING PARSON Great peace have they that love Thy law: and nothing shall offend them. Psa. 119, v. 165. How curious that the man known to history as "the fighting parson'' should have chosen peace as the text of his ordination sermon preached in the old log meeting house of Paxton, December 21, 1738. The Reverend John Elder, a man universally acknowledged as in advance of his age, had evidently the modern theory that the surest way to have peace is to be ready for war. He fought with his rifle for his people and country ; he fought with pen and tongue for his Presbyterian faith and for a more thoroughly trained ministry; and he foreshadowed the twentieth century reformer in his fight for the people against the greed and indifference of the Provincial government. In every generation there is a man who towers above the men of his time by reason of some force within himself. Such a man was our Parson Elder. Paxton is justly proud of him. Why was Rev. John Elder one of the most prominent figures of his age? As we reckon it to-day he was naught but a country parson in a backwoods settlement, where he held one charge for fifty-two years. With this humble environment he made himself felt throughout a colony filled with men of widely diverse creeds and blood ; this, too, with no newspapers to bring him in daily touch with his fellow colonists, to spread his fame by puff and publicity. Mr. Elder was a man of God, strong in his convictions and ready to uphold them, even to the point of defying old Donegal Presbytery, as when be became part of the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia in 1768, and there remained until the formation of Carlisle Presbytery in 1786. Like most strong men he was fearless, forceful, sometimes domineering in manner and methods. That he was not unjustly dogmatic appears from the honor in which he is held by his contemporaries in the ministry. One of the most popular preachers of his day, he preached more often before Donegal Presbytery than any other man in it; was its Moderator when little over thirty years old and was frequently its clerk, being considered one of the best clerks of Presbytery of that early time. It speaks much for the personality of Mr. Elder that after the turmoils of Mr. Bertram's regime, Paxton became one of the best regulated congregations in the Presbytery. There were no more disputes about salary, though the parson with a family of fifteen children to support, was paid but £60 a year, half of it in bacon, hay, flax, linen yarn and other commodities. In an old receipt book of John Harris we read that in 1752 Parson Elder is paid "the sum of six pounds in full for all Steepings to the first day of November last." The thrifty parson was evidently punctual in calling upon his Episcopalian supporter for payment of these steepings, which were the annual contribution to the pastor's salary.