Perhaps there may be relatives who are not wholly sorry to be rid of responsibility in regard to girls who have not been amenable to advice or rules. Such wash their hands of the whole affair by the warning, “As you make your bed, so you must lie. Do not look to us for help in future.” So, when a girl reaps the fruits of a hasty or ill-advised marriage, the most she gets from erewhile friends or kinsfolk, is, “You were warned in time. I told you what would happen.” Parents, guardians, true friends may do their utmost, but, after all, they cannot do everything. A great part of the responsibility must rest on the girl herself, since they may advise and she refuse to listen. They may picture the prospect before her, she may shut her eyes to it. They may bring facts and figures, she will not discuss them, or will insist that her calculations are right and theirs are wrong. They may point out that the burden of care and toil which would follow such a marriage will prove too heavy for her. She makes light of it, because hitherto she has never felt the reality. Dear ones, I am dealing mainly with warnings, and that side of the question with which reason has mainly to do, in this our first talk on an all-important subject. We shall look at the love and the beautiful—poetic I had almost said—the heavenly side of it by-and-by. Now, I seem to be looking all the time at the mistakes and follies which, in so many cases, have spoiled lives, and made marriage like anything rather than what God meant it to be. Is there one amongst you to-night who is getting tired of the daily round in a poor home where all the family are, however, rich in affection? You may have grown weary of the makeshifts and contrivances needful to keep up appearances. You hate to have to calculate how far every shilling will go before you spend it. You long to escape from the narrow round of daily life, almost at any cost. Perhaps you have only to say “Yes,” in order to exchange it for comparative ease and luxury, but you hesitate, and why? Because your heart tells you that affection will have no share in the compact. Conscience whispers that you only know that your suitor’s worldly circumstances are favourable, but as to his character you are almost in ignorance, and have an uncomfortable feeling that you had better not inquire too closely. Will you give your life into the keeping of one about whom you know almost nothing, and try to silence heart, conscience and reason by saying to yourself, “A fine home, costly garments, money and social position will make up for all else that is lacking.” God forbid. All that the world has to offer cannot make amends for the absence of true love and the respect and confidence that should give it stability, neither can it stifle the voice of conscience, which says, “I told you the truth, and you would not listen.”