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I. GOD KNOWS AND CONSIDERS ALL OUR WANTS, AND OUT OR HIS OWN GOODNESS MAKES PROVISION TO SUPPLY THEM. And this —

1. He must do, or else we should often perish.

2. And it is fit He should do so to magnify His free mercies. Let God's dealing with us move us to deal in like manner with our brethren, considering the poor and needy (Psalm 41:1) after the example of the disciples of Antioch (Acts 11:29).

II. GOD'S PROVIDENCE AND ABUNDANT GOODNESS FAILS US NOT TILL IT HATH SUPPLIED US WITH ALL THAT WE NEED THAT IS FIT FOR US. Let it quiet all our hearts in the consideration of our present condition, when our inordinate lusts provoke us sometimes to causeless complaints and murmurings upon supposed but mistaken grounds. Whereas —

1. Either we have that which we conceive we want, as Hagar wept for want of water when she saw not the well which was fast by her (Genesis 21:19). Or —

2. That which we want would do us hurt and no good if we had it, as the Israelites found by experience when they murmured for want of flesh (Numbers 11:33).

III. A SOLITARY LIFE IS AN UNCOMFORTABLE AND AN UNPROFITABLE LIFE. From whence, then, came the affecting and admiring of a monastical life which crosseth —

1. The very law of nature by which men are inclined to society; and —

2. God's ordinance who hath appointed us —

(1) To cause our light to shine before men that they might glorify Him (Matthew 5:16). And to serve one another through love (Galatians 5:13). So that a solitary life —

(a) Deprives God of His honour;

(b) Men, and the Church especially, both of that increase of an holy seed, which they might have of the fruit of their bodies, of the comfort of their fellowship, the service of love which they owe, and of the examples of their godly lives;

(c) Themselves in present, of many sweet comforts and needful helps, and hereafter of the increase of their reward enlarged according to the proportion of their present improving of their talents in advancing God's honour, and seeking and procuring the good of His children.

IV. GOD TAKES NOT NOTICE OF OUR WANTS AS AN IDLE SPECTATORS BUT, AS A FAITHFUL HELPER, PUTS FORTH HIS HAND TO HELP US IN WHAT WE NEED. Let us do likewise — observe, take pity, and relieve.

1. Otherwise our brethren have no benefit by us if we express our compassion in words only, and not in deeds (James 2:16), but prove like clouds and wind without rain (Proverbs 25:14).

2. We make our own thoughts or words evidences against ourselves when we know what our brother needs and help him not, and provoke God to neglect us as we neglect Him. See what He threateneth in such a case (Proverbs 24:11, 12).

V. GOD MAKES NOTHING BUT FOR SOME NECESSARY USE AND UNTO SOME PROFITABLE END.

VI. A WIFE IS NOT GOOD TILL IT BE NOT GOOD TO BE WITHOUT A WIFE. VII. A MAN MAY, AND IT IS GOD'S WILL THAT HE SHOULD, BE THE BETTER FOR HIS WIFE.

1. Woe be to those foolish wives that pluck down the house which they should build (Proverbs 14:1), proving moths in their husband's estates by their idleness and wastefulness; and thorns in their sides, vexing those whom they should comfort, with their continual dropping; perverting those whom they should advise.

2. Let every man labour to be the better for his wife, and to that end —

(1) Let him labour to be good in the sight of God.

(2) Let him look well to his choice, that he may take a godly wife, and a wife fit both for his condition and disposition.

(3) Let him dwell with his wife as a man of knowledge, governing her with all meekness, instructing her, and bearing with her infirmities (1 Peter 3:7).

VIII. IT IS ONLY GOD HIMSELF THAT MUST SUPPLY US WITH THAT WHICH WE STAND IN NEED OF.

IX. NOTHING MOVES GOD TO TAKE COMPASSION ON US, TO SUPPLY US IN WHAT WE NEED, BUT HIS OWN BOUNTY AND GOODNESS.

X. A WIFE IS BUT AN HELPER TO HER HUSBAND. Not his guide, for she was created for the man, not the man for her (1 Corinthians 11:9), and that too, inferior unto him, both in dignity, and usually in abilities. So that she is truly and worthily called the weaker vessel (1 Peter 3:7).

XI. A WIFE CANNOT BE A GOOD WIFE UNLESS SHE BE A MEET AND A FIT WIFE. Answerable, if it may be —

1. In blood and parentage (see 1 Samuel 23.).

2. In estate.

3. Education.

4. Especially in the temper of her disposition.

5. But above all the rest, in religion; seeing there can be no fellowship of righteousness with unrighteousness, nor of light with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14). Least of all between married persons.

(J. White, M. A.)

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KJV: And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

WEB: Yahweh God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."