Edward Johnson (September 1598-April 23, 1672) the founder of Woburn, Massachusetts, was a contemporary of Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop. He became a trader, author, historian, and in 1654, witnessed the founding of the Puritan Church in the New World. Edward Johnson reported this event in his history titled Wonder-Working Providences of Sion's Saviour in New England:
<Although the number of faithful people of Christ were but few, yet their longing desire to gather into a church was very great....
Having fasted and prayed with humble acknowledgment of their own unworthiness to be called of Christ to so worthy a work, they joined together in a holy Covenant with the Lord and with one another, promising by the Lord's assistance to walk together in exhorting, admonishing and rebuking one another, and to cleave to the Lord with a full purpose of heart.
First, it is their judgment, and that from Scripture taught them, that those who are chosen to a place in government, must be men truly fearing God, wise and learned in the truths of Christ....
Neither will any Christian of a sound judgment vote for any, but those who earnestly contend for the faith.> 1598EJ001
<You that have seen these wondrous works by Sions Savior don, Expect not miracle, lest means thereby you over-run; The noble Acts Jehovah wrought, his Israel to redeem, Surely this second work of his shall far more glorious seem.> 1598EJ002
--
American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1598EJ001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Edward Johnson, The Wonder-Working Providences of Sion's Saviour in New England, J. Franklin Jameson, ed., (pub. 1653; Barnes & Noble edition), p. 163. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 1, p. 217-20.
1598EJ002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Edward Johnson, The Wonder-Working Providences of Sion's Saviour in New England, J. Franklin Jameson, ed., (pub. 1653; Barnes & Noble edition). Dumas Malone, editor, Dictionary of American Biography (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933), Vol. V, p. 95.