Nephi here states a fact, amply confirmed. A sermon intended to arouse a slumberer out of his sleep, or to turn a sinner from his evil ways, never is "pleasant" to the offender. It stings and smarts and crushes. Those who heard John the Baptist address the people as a "generation of vipers," and telling them that, as chaff, they would be burned in unquenchable fire; or, those who heard the Apostle Peter, on the day of Pentecost, accuse his audience of being the murderers of Jesus of Nazareth, did not like the sermons. They did not exclaim, What beautiful discourses! They were, instead, "pricked in their hearts," and that hurt. It was in the agony of soul that they cried out, "What are we to do?" Such are the effects of the inspired word of God on guilty consciences, if it produces repentance.