Tao Te Ching — Exposed and Answered

The Tao Te Ching, ascribed to Lao-tzu (sixth century BC), is the founding text of Taoism, printed here in James Legge's translation (1891, public domain). Its Tao — 'the way that can be trodden is not the enduring Tao' — is an impersonal, unnameable principle behind the universe, found by stillness, emptiness, and non-action. Much in it is shrewd wisdom about pride and striving. But a way that cannot be named cannot be known, cannot speak, cannot love, and cannot save. The highlighted passages are answered by the God who names Himself, speaks, and calls men to know Him.