Homiletics: Classification of Divisions - William Paxton (1824 - 1904)

When B. B. Warfield delivered the memorial message for William M. Paxton in Miller Chapel at Princeton Seminary he said of his friend and colleague that “Dr. Paxton’s power always lay more in what he was than in what he did, and the best of all sermons was the sermon he preached by his life” (236). What an assessment of his fellow faculty member from the Lion of Princeton. Dr. Warfield had witnessed many of the twenty years Paxton taught and during the course of the memorial message it is clear that his fond memories were multiplied by those of many other Princetonians.

William Miller Paxton was born of Scots-Irish descent in Adams County, Pennsylvania June 7, 1824. His father, Col. James Dunlop Paxton worked manufacturing iron at Maria Furnace and his mother was a daughter of the Hon. William Miller. When Mrs. Paxton suffered an extended period of poor health, Col. Paxton moved the family to be near her family. Young William was educated locally before attending the recently established Pennsylvania College (currently Gettysburg College) where he graduated in 1843 with the intention of studying law. He chose to live at Caledonia Iron Works so he could read law with Judge George Chambers of Chambersburg. However, when William professed faith in Christ and united with the Falling Spring Presbyterian Church in 1845, it appears he concurrently perceived God’s call to the ministry. The next month he was taken under care of the Presbytery of Carlisle before moving to Princeton, New Jersey, for ministerial education.

William Paxton’s fellow students observed their classmate’s