And they spread their garments in the way.
Religious excitement
How are we to deal with religious emotions when they are awakened in a more than ordinary degree?
1. We should make them subservient to the promotion of the rectitude of our nature and of our life. With the kindling of our religious emotions there comes strength for action, and our care should be to use that strength for right action.
2. It is not always safe to act under the impulse of strong feelings; therefore we need, at such seasons, to be more than ordinarily prayerful; and at such times conscience ought to be more than ever consulted.
3. If a man, under the influence of religious excitement, does not do what conscience and God’s law clearly require of him, there is little reason to expect that he will do so when the excitement shall have passed away. There are certain lessons taught us by this subject.
(1) That religious excitement has its sphere of usefulness in the development of religious life;
(2) but it is a grievous mistake to regard emotional excitement as the very essence and substance of religion. (F. Wagstaff.)