Moral Excitements

Many men confound moral excitements with those of their passions, and think it not prudent to act upon their feelings They wait till excitement has cooled. The excitement of passion should cool, but of the nobler powers, never. I should as soon think of saying to the workmen at a foundry, "Why do you pour that liquid, scintillating iron into the mould? Why do you not wait till it is cold before you do it?" as of asking a man if he heeded his convictions and his judgments of moral truths when his intellect was roused and his heart on fire. If he waits till he has cooled down, they will be as dross and cinders compared to what they would have been when his heart throbbed, and was alive with blessed excitement. —Beecher