Page:An address delivered by the Hon. Mrs. Welby to the married women of Newton on the first Thursday in Lent, 1872.djvu/10

6 Blessed Saviour, whom we all profess to love and serve, to do what lies in each of you, to keep the girls of this village now growing up pure and virtuous, and not to let me hear any longer that dreadful saying that since I have lived here has made my heart sore:—"It does not so much matter, so long as I am married before my baby is born." It does matter, it does matter! Every woman who has ever said that or thought that, feels it in the depths of her heart till the end of her life. She is no longer the same; she can never respect herself or feel that her husband respects her, as if she had kept herself as a Christian girl should keep herself until the day of her marriage. She may be a good wife, a devoted mother, but there is something wanting; whenever she opens her Bible she sees with an inward pang, that the fault of which she was once guilty is there spoken of as severely as any sin can be; she sees that for these things' sake "the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience." (Col. iii. 5.) And she feels