The Kindness that Imitates God Himself

The Kindness that Imitates God Himself
Ephesians 4.25-5.2

The best-known literary figure in eighteenth-century England was Dr Samuel Johnson. A native of Lichfield in Staffordshire, he spent most of his adult life in London. He wrote many works, especially his famous Dictionary and his discussions of Shakespeare’s plays. He became famous for his table talk and dry wit.

Johnson was a devout Christian, some of whose published prayers are still in regular use in the Church of England. Despite the tendency of many of his friends to turn their conversation into displays of verbal brilliance, or into gossip and slander, he retained a deep sense that there was more to life than that. He was without malice. On one occasion his companion Boswell asked him what the point was of sharing a meal with people if, as sometimes happened, nobody said anything worth remembering. Johnson replied that the point was ‘to eat and drink together, and to promote kindness’...

Taken from Paul for Everyone – The Prison Letters by Tom Wright