Lord, in the day Thou art about. J. Mason. [Security in God.] This cento from Mason's Spiritual Songs; or, Songs of Praise, &c, 1683, appeared in the Mary-le-bone Psalms & Hymns (by J. H. Gurney and others), 1851, No. 118. It is thus composed:—
Stanza i. from No. vi. “Song of Praise for Protection," stanza ii., lines 1-4. Stanza ii. from No. vii. "Song of Praise for Health," stanza ii., lines 1-4. Stanza iii. from No. ix. "Song of Praise for Success," stanza iv., lines1-4. Stanza iv. from No. viii., "Song of Praise for Family Prosperity," stanza v., lines5-8.
These extracts are well pieced together, the result being a simple and practical hymn. It passed from the Mary-le-bone Psalms & Hymns into Lord Selborne's Book of Praise, 1862, and others. The originals of the Songs are in D. Sedgwick's reprint of the same, 1859.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Mason, John. The known facts of his life are scanty. He was the son of a Dissenting Minister, and the grandfather of John Mason, the author of A Treatise on Self-Knowledge. He was educated at Strixton School, Northants, and Clare Hall, Cambridge. After taking his M.A., he became Curate of Isham; and in 1668, Vicar of Stantonbury, Bucks. A little more than five years afterwards he was appointed Rector of Water-Stratford. Here he composed the volume containing The Songs of Praise, his paraphrase of The Song of Solomon, and the Poem on Dives and Lazarus, with which Shepherd's Penitential Cries was afterwards bound up. This volume passed through twenty editions. Besides the Songs of Praise, it contains six Penitential Cries by Mason, and it i… Go to person page >
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