The Four Wishes
The source for this document is https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A86886.0001.001
Project Note
This is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
The source of this document is the Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP) website. Those books were transcribed in a character for character manner and can be very cumbersome to read since there was no standard spelling during that time. Many spelling variations such as "unlesse", "vnlesse", and "vnles" regularly appear.
This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.
Although this is no substitute for a properly compared, proofed, and scholarly edition, I believe that the result is a document which is far more accessible, particularly for searching for terms using standard spelling. The document has been cleaned and presented in what I hope is a pleasing and useful format for the vast majority of Christian brothers and sisters who just want access to read these spiritually nourishing works.
However, a word of warning: The Puritans were a very diverse group of people and their age was characterized with godliness, but also much upheaval, disputation and strife. They disagreed on many doctrines and some of these works contain less orthodox or Scriptural views than others. The reader is strongly advised to read with discernment, particularly if it is unknown whether author is trustworthy.
This project took a huge amount of time and skill to bring to fruition. I would particularly like to thank David Jonescue for the initial list of Puritans he found on EEBO and the concept behind this project as well as the continuous, unceasing efforts toward seeing this complete. Without his labor, this would not be available. Alex Sarrouf was invaluable in providing the initial list of over 7,000 spelling variations he had identified and corrected, as well as continuing to review more than 16,000 additions to that list for any typos.
Logan West
(with David Jonescue and Alex Sarrouf)
www.puritansearch.org
THE FOURE WISHES OF M r . JOHN HUMPHREY, In Conclusion of his SERMONS Printed 1653. Intituled An Humble ADMISSION UNTO The LORD'S SUPPER, &c.
I Wish we had a Government established in the Church, the nearest in Christian Prudence that may be to the Word of God.
I Wish the Duty of Fraternall Correption, a watching over, and admonishing one another in Love, were better known and Practised amongst us.
I Wish, that men would look more into their own Consciences, and leave the judging of other Spirits, Hearts and Reins alone to the judgment Seat of Christ.
I Wish, though there may be some judging by the Fruits, that Wise Religious men would be more cautious of countenancing these Separations in the Visible Church, seeing upon the same ground that you go to gather a Church out of my mixed Congregation; another will gather a Separation out of your Church, and so continue (as I have intimated from our sad experience) an endless Separating until this first Separation shall in a few years be able to take up the saying of that Greatest Grandmother, unto those many Schisms she shall see issuing, as her natural Off-spring out of her own Bowells: Rise up daughter, go to thy Daughter, for thy Daughters Daughter hath a Daughter: for this Seperations Separation, hath a Separation.