deep-seated malice.

Are there any motives capable of justifying these outbursts of passion?
None at all, if our ire has these two features of unreasonableness and
vindictiveness. This is evil. No motive, however good, can justify an
evil end.

If any cause were plausible, it would be a grave injury, malicious and
unjust. But not even this is sufficient, for we are forbidden to return
evil for evil. It may cause us grief and pain, but should not incite us
to anger, hatred and revenge. What poor excuses would therefore be
accidental or slight injuries, just penalties for our wrongdoings and
imaginary grievances! The less excusable is our wrath, the more serious
is our delinquency. Our guilt is double-dyed when the deed and the
cause of the deed are both alike unreasonable.

Yet there is a kind of anger that is righteous. We speak of the wrath
of God, and in God there can be no sin. Christ himself was angry at the
sight of the vendors in the temple. Holy Writ says: Be ye angry and sin
not. But this passion, which is the fruit of zeal, has three features
which make it impossible to confound it with the other. It is always
kept within the bounds of a wise moderation and under the empire of
reason; it knows not the spirit of revenge; and it has behind it the
best of motives, namely, zeal for the glory of God. It is aroused at
the sight of excesses, injustices, scandals, frauds; it seeks to
destroy sin, and to correct the sinner. It is often not only a
privilege, but a duty. It supposes, naturally, judgment, prudence, and
discretion, and excludes all selfish motives.

Zeal in an inferior and more common degree is called indignation, and