Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Little Zoar

Early Puritans spoke of a godly wife as a "little Zoar," a place of refuge as it were for her husband.

Henry Smith, A Preparative to Marriage (1591), in his Works, Vol. I, p. 8):

Beasts are ordained for food, and clothes for warmth, and flowers for pleasure, but the wife is ordained for man; like little Zoar, a city of refuge to fly to in all his troubles, Gen. xix.20; and there is no peace comparable unto her but the peace of conscience.

John Dod & Robert Cleaver, A Godly Forme of Household Government (1598), p. 125:

The wife is ordained for man: like a little Zoar, a city of refuge to fly to in all his troubles: and there is no peace comparable unto her but the peace of conscience.

And so I wrote this poem in 1994 (and by God's grace I found my little Zoar soon after).

Little Zoar

She's out of sight, but not of mind
A godly woman, who can find?
The landscape littered I must flee
Show me, my God, who feareth thee
With her my soul shall live and love
Our Lord Jesu who reigns above
Plant a tree in this dying plain
For of my sins I am ashamed
Make me a man and she my wife
Whom I will cherish in this life
My heart with diligence I'll keep
While seeking her among thy sheep
From salt and sulfur far away
We'll make a home where we can say
Thanks be to God and to the Son
In vale of death to taste heaven

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