Fifthly, This grievous sin was wrong done to Christ Jesus, ' Whom ye have crucified.' Now they find the nails pricking in their hearts as so many sharp daggers ; and having formerly pierced Christ, are now pierced themselves : ' Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts.' Note from hence, that sin will then affect the heart most when the wrong done to Christ thereby is seriously thought of. It was prophesied of these Jews, Zech. xii. 10, * They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born ; ' John viii. 28, ' When ye have lift up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he.' Christ had foretold this conviction ; after it was done they should be convinced of it, and their consciences let loose upon them, that they might see what a woful sin they had committed. And did the Jews only wrong Christ ? All of us have wronged him in his laws and servants ; and it is not only Jews, but christians may look upon him whom they have pierced. Some are said, Heb. vi. 6, ' To crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame.' The blood of Christ may not only be upon them that shed it, but on those that slight it. We do him the greatest contumely ; the Jews knew him not. Christ prayeth, ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' We know him, or else do ill in professing his name, and rejecting his benefits.
Secondly, I come to the tiouble and anxiety of heart caused by the word, .cazevvyrjaav rfj Kaphla, ' They were pricked in their hearts.' Mark, it was not a slight stroke, the razing of the skin, but a com- punction or pricking, a deep remorse and trouble. This was not of the eye, as Esau sought the blessing with tears when he had lost it,
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Heb. xii. 17, but .in tlie heart. Not a b'gliter touch or sudden pang, but a deep wound. The words are passive, not pricked themselves, but ' were pricked.' Could they have told how to prevent it, it had never been ; but God breaketh in upon their consciences by his word, and then they are sore troubled. We read of some that, when they were charged with the same crime, they were ' cut at heart ; ' Acts vii. 54, ' Ye have been betrayers and murderers of the just One. And when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and gnashed on him with their teeth.' This is the more kindly work of the two. The word, when it is used as a means of conversion, then men are pricked at heart ; but when they misuse it, as a means of embittering their spirits, then they are cut at heart. This perplexity and trouble we may consider as the fruit and issue of sin, or as the beginning of grace.
1. If you consider it as a fruit of sin, that sin will be bitterness and terror to the soul in the issue, however it seem to content us, and please the flesh for a while. It carrieth a sting with it in the tail, that will show itself one time or other : Jer. ii. 19, ' Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee ; know therefore, and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.' Thou shalt know it by the gripes of thine own heart. Though conscience be seared and senseless for a time, yet after a little while it will awake. For the present men do with difficulty smother cliecks of conscience, and repel the reproofs of the word, but after a while your trouble will come upon you like an armed man, which you cannot resist : ' The pleasures of sin are but for a season,' Heb. xi. 25. But all this while you are but providing for your own sorrow : Job xx. 12-14, ' Though wickedness be sweet in the mouth, though he hide it under his tongue, though he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it still within his mouth, yet his meat in liis bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.'
Use 1. Oh, take we heed then how we play with sin, or the occa- sions that lead thereunto. Tiie contentment is soon over, like a draught of sweet poison, and then men feel the gall of asps within tl)emselves, either in terrors of conscience in this life : Prov. xviii. 14, ' A wounded conscience who can bear ? ' or in the torments of hell liereafter : Luke xvi. 24, ' Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue ; for I am tormented in this flame: ' Rom. ii. 9, 'Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man tliat doeth evil.' Nay, though a kindly remorse should intervene : Mat. xxvi. 75, ' Peter went out and wept bitterly.' It will cost you heart-grief and sorrow. Therefore be not deceived ; do not sow to the fle.sh ; forbidden fruit will cost dear. You think it pleasant to satisfy your lusts : ' Stolen waters are sweet, and biead eaten in secret is pleasant ; but he knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell,' Prov, ix. 17, 18. The sting of con- science and eternal torments will follow this. You are merry now, l)ut this temper will not always last. If God put you into the stocks of conscience, or cast you into the prison of hell, then you will pay dear for all this frolickinj:.