Question: Would it be proper to use a [valediction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valediction) ("complimentary close") in a newspaper or magazine message wholly devoted to congratulating the media's readers with the New Year or some other holiday? 

An example message from the staff of a made-up media:

> 
> Dear readers! 
> 
> 
> From the bottom of our hearts we... 
> 
> 
> Yours sincerely, Russian Industrial News' editorial staff.
> 
> 
> 

Or are valedictions more fit for personal communication? 

P.S. In Russia, such congratulatory newspaper messages are ended with a no-frills bottom-positioned line like "Editorial staff of [name of media]." I became curious whether this would work in an English-language media, or should one add something to embellish the ending.

Answer: 
The verb *will* in the past meant *wish*. This sense is mostly lost in contemporary speech, but can be seen in the saying "where there is a will there is a way". 

The modal *will* we normally use today, is related to this old sense, but still different.

This old sense of *will* is similar to (and cognate with) the Latin *volo, volere*, which you probably have in Romanian as well. 

In terms of what the above sentences mean, you could read them as:

For I *might wish* that all men were even as I myself. (1 Corinthians 7:7)

I *wish* to God my name were not so terrible to the enemy as it is. (2H4 I.ii.219-220)

If you're translating these to Romanian in your head, use the subjunctive.
Yes, they mean the same thing: they express a "wish". If you substitute *wish* for *would*, you will see the construction clearly.

[*would*](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/would) vb.: (one meaning) I wish: *Would* that he were here. 

You can see it in another (slightly) familiar phrase

> 
> Would that I could, but I can't, so I shan't.
> 
> 
> 

This form implies a wishful or idealized alternative to an undesired reality. In other words, the speaker wishes for a different set of circumstances or outcome than the real situation he or she is in, and is called The subjunctive mood. 

The [subjunctive](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood) is a grammatical mood found in many languages. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as *wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred* – the precise situations in which they are used vary from language to language. 

It is an older form in English, used less frequently today, but seen often enough in early translations of the Bible and other early writings, as well as very formal writing.