Was his spirit then moved _only_ with indignation against this worship, and had he no sympathy with the spiritual needs which it expressed?
It does not seem so.

He recognized piety in their souls.

"I see that ye are, in all ways, exceedingly pious." He recognized their worship as passing beyond the idols, to the true God.

He did not profess that he came to revolutionize their religion, but to reform it.

He does not proceed like the backwoodsman, who fells the forest and takes out the stumps in order to plant a wholly different crop; but like the nurseryman, who grafts a native stock with a better fruit.
They were already ignorantly worshipping the true God.