Sacred Text · The Analects
The Analects 7:29
Book 7, chapter 29 · the sayings of Confucius
Translation: James Legge, The Chinese Classics: Confucian Analects (1861, revised 1893), public domain, via Project Gutenberg (ebook 3330). Reproduced in full and in context; the sayings 15:23 (the negative Golden Rule), 6:28 (ren), 4:15 (the one thread) and 2:4 (the stages of life) were validated against the source before publishing. References follow Legge’s standard book:chapter numbering.
How this connects to Jesus
Is virtue a thing remote? Confucius asked. I wish to be virtuous, and lo, virtue is at hand. It is a hopeful word about how near goodness lies to a willing heart. The Gospel agrees that God is near, and names a gift Confucius did not: that God himself works in us both to will and to do what is good (Philippians 2:13), so that virtue is not only near but given.
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