The New International Encyclopædia/Johnson, Samuel (clergyman)

JOHNSON, Samuel (1822-82). An American clergyman and reformer. He was born at North Andover, Mass., and graduated at Harvard in 1842, and at the Harvard Divinity School in 1846. He preached for some time at Dorchester, but displeased his congregation there by his opposition to slavery. In 1851 he became pastor of a ‘free church’ in Lynn, Mass., being independent in his religious opinions, though agreeing generally with the Unitarians. He edited, jointly with Samuel Lougfellow, a collection of sacred poetry entitled Hymns of the Spirit; and was author of The Worship of Jesus (1868) and of Oriental Religions — India (1872), China (1877), Persia (1885). Consult Longfellow, Memoir of Samuel Johnson (Boston, 1883).