Revised: 3/18/2025

The goal of the Spirit's Day Version (SDV) is to assist the modern reader wherever archaic language might prove difficult in reading and understanding these wonderful and glorious Mysteries of God. The paramount ambition was to remain faithful to the text, while preserving this mystical writer's beautiful style, as well as the classical flavor of the time period. The SDV is not a paraphrase, thus the beautiful prose and unique terminology remain intact. It also features paragraphs number for easy referencing.

Authentic Books and Texts

All the original writings are in the Public Domain, and are readily available on the Internet and also through public and university libraries. This Editor obtained microfilm copies of the texts, which were then scanned and converted into text. The Spirit’s Day Version is Copyrighted.

The Word of God

It is the belief of this Editor that Jane Lead's writings contain the very words of God the Father, His Divine Virgin-Wisdom, and His Son Jesus Christ. And as Jane herself has stated, as such, they may be considered “Scripture;’ for, whatever is purely dictated by the Holy Ghost may be called by that name (Eight Worlds 1:22d, SDV). Therefore they are directed to all Holy Seekers and Loving Inquirers—and should be studied by those seek to press into the First Resurrection—just as the Bible is studied for the teaching and building up of Christ’s Church. As the consummation of all things draws near, an increased interest in these writings is expected, with various versions and commentaries appearing, for the education and edification of Wisdom’s Children.

Fidelity to the Author

Fidelity to the Author has been a key issue as these writings were transcribed and edited. The goal was to remain faithful to both, by preserving the accuracy of the text, and therefore maintaining the precise testimony of the Writer. Although archaic language has been updated, yet the message itself is left untouched. The SDV is a revision and not a paraphrase.

Style & Language

Style reveals the Writer’s personality. Thus at times what was written could not give way to what was convenient. It was never the intention of the SDV to polish these writings, but only to assist the modern reader who may find Early Modern English a difficult read. Archaic pronouns such as thee and thy, were replaced with the modern you and your. Verbs such as giveth and taketh were replaced as well. Archaic spellings have also been corrected. Obsolete words were replaced only when the context was clear. However this Editor never sought to alter the text in order to improve a meaning or clarify a thought.

Paragraph Division & Numbering

In the Original, the Writer’s paragraphs can easily span several typewritten pages; and have therefore been broken down into manageable portions. The original paragraph divisions remain identifiable and are preceded by the symbol "§." When no chapter divisions were present, this Editor divided into such, with paragraph numbering throughout, enabling the serious student and meticulous researcher to easily locate and reference passages. The SDV continues to be a work in progress, and therefore the paragraph numbers may not be static and may change slightly in future revisions. Abbreviated manuscript titles were inserted before each numbered paragraph for easy identification. Wherever possible Writer’s original paragraph numbers (if present) were retained.

Sentence Structure & Capitalization

Lengthier sentences were divided into smaller portions. But it lies beyond the level of this Editor’s ability to rearrange Early Modern English sentence structure. Therefore minor changes were made only when it contributed a smoother read. As for upper and lower cases words, Early Modern English writers often capitalized common nouns as well as proper nouns. Many of which were reduced to lower case. Caps were added to pronouns that have reference to the Deity.

Electronic Texts

Unless otherwise indicated, all electronic text for both the SDV and 17CV were transcribed by this Editor personally, using microfilm images of the original books, which were scanned and then converted to text. The additional work of scanning, typing, editing, proofing, revising, layout, etc., was also performed personally by this Editor. Texts are in PDF format, with clickable Table of Contents and PDF bookmarks for easy navigation.

Digitized Original Books

Lovers of these Divine Truths can view and download the writings in their original form, as they appeared over 300 years ago. They are housed at Archive.org.

Also...

Section Headings: When a Table of Contents was provided by the Author, it was placed in the front matter of the manuscript, and also as section headings within the body of the text. The Editor also added SDV subheadings wherever it would prove helpful in locating passages.

Margin Notes that appeared in the original manuscript appear as Footnotes.

TOC: The SDV has a clickable Table of Contents and Bookmarks for easy navigation.

Typos, Omissions, Transpositions: Since this is a solitary project, it is possible for something to be missed during the transcribing and editing process—in spite of the numerous editing passes. Thankfully some of those errors have been brought to the attention of this Editor—which is greatly appreciated.

Poetry reveals the writer’s innermost thoughts and feelings, and also reflects the flavor of the time period. Therefore, all poetry text was left untouched, and remains as it appeared in the original.

Scriptures are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Commentary or Explication is not provided at this time. However, Studies and Q&A’s by this Editor are located on the Spirit’s Day Studies Page and the Questions & Answers Page on the website.

Spelling: The U.S. rather than the U.K. spelling of common words was used.

Future Revisions: The SDV continues to be a work in progress, and therefore the paragraph numbers are subject to change slightly in future revisions.

Printing and Distribution: The PDF copies of the Spirit’s Day Version texts may be freely printed, copied, and emailed for personal use, or to pass on to others—as long as they are made available without charge. They may not be modified in any way, nor posted on any website, or published in any form whatsoever. They may be cited, as long as reference to the Spirit’s Day Version (SDV) is included.

“Spirit’s Day” is from a poem by Jane Lead that appears in The Eight Worlds:

Shake, shake your earthly dust away,
for now it's the Spirit's Day,
that will admit of no delay.

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