1844-08-03-The Rev Mr Johnson

The Prophet v1n12 3 August 1844, pg 2

The Rev. Mr. Johnson, formerly editor of the Evangelist

The Rev. Mr. Johnson, formerly editor of the Evangelist in this city, and pastor of a Presbyterian church in New Jersey, convicted on his own confession by a council of his brethren of practices rather unbecoming a clergyman, has written a penitential letter, in which he ascribes his downfall in part to the debasing influence of the light literature of the age. If a beardless boy just cut loose from his mother's apron strings, had held up one of Paul de Kock's novels, or one of Sue's or Balwer's, and sniveled out that the book tempted him to the commission of a sin, we might be induced to pity and pardon; but for a minister of the gospel, a man set apart and consecrated as a teacher of his fellow men�a light in the world, shining out amidst deep moral darkness, to say that his heels were tripped up by the novelist, is too provoking. We dare say, that this Mr. Johnson has written and preached against light literature. If we could rake together his old sermons, we would find eloquent warnings against the seductions of the novelist, and yet the man who preached did not practice; the pit that he pointed out as dangerous and to be avoided, he fell into himself. By his own admission, Mr. Johnson has been a very great hypocrite; we may be uncharitable, but we are inclined to believe he is now. As for the blast against light literature, it is all gammon.�There are wholesome issues from the press, but we do not believe that Bulwer, Sue, De Kock and a host of other writers we could name, ever made a man a libertine against his own inclinations. The devil is in the man and not in the book.

The above is from the Sunday Times of 28th ult. We have been several times brought in contact with the Rev. (1) gentleman above named�he was opposed to Mormonism, and charged the saints of God with the crime of which he has been convicted. We well remember that the last time we saw him, it was in the stage between Newark and Bloomfield, New Jersey; our conversation turned upon the licentiousness of the Clergy, we dilated at some length on the daily published reports of crimes of a sexual nature committed by those who style themselves the servants of God, and ventured an opinion that in the courts of Justice, five pretended ministers to one of any of her profession have been convicted of rapes, seduction, adultery, &c. and said that we believed that there were many cases that were never made public, for religions' sake; the Holy man expressed a great deal of virtuous indignation that say one should speak so of those God had sent (1)�said the very nature of their calling made them less liable to fall, that not having any thing of a secular nature to divert their minds from the pure principles of the gospel, they had not the same desires as other men, who labored physically�look to the attested results�he then asked fo a miracle, we gave him Christ's words as an answer�"A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh for a sign, yet no sign shall they have,"�and what was true applied to a generation, was true applied to him�like cause produce like effects. Beware of sign seekers.