At lunch this afternoon, Captain Kurt mentioned that he is preparing a series of sermons on the book of Jonah. Mired as I am in Chapter XXXI of Moby Dick, I asked if he had read the sermon in the early part of that book. He had not, and he did not own a copy of the book. So, for the sake of Kurt, as well as for your reading pleasure, I present “Chapter ix - THE SERMON”.
As a bonus, I also put up another piece I’ve been meaning to pass along to Kurt for a couple of years now: “Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards”. Edwards is arguably the most important philosopher or theologian born in America (Charles S. Peirce might give him a run for the money, and I’m probably forgetting others), but he is regrettably best-known for his sermon: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. As a mere eighteen year-old (and over the following couple of years), Edwards wrote these resolutions in his diary. A few of them seem strange (#9) or dated (#38), but I am envious of this kind of wisdom (#52) at such a young age. I most admire the first and last resolutions.