THEIR AUTHORS AND ORIGIN. 47
He was an eminent dissenting minister, and son of a dissenting minister. The John Mason, the hymn-writer, the subject of this sketch, was the grandfather of the first-mentioned John Mason. He attended school at Strixton, in Northamptonshire, and removed thence to Clare Hall, Cambridge. He was at first curate to the Rev. Mr. Sawyer, at Isham, in Northamptonshire. Afterwards, on October 31gt, 1668, he was presented to the vicarage of Stanton- Bury, and in January, 28th, 1674, to the rectory of Water Strat ford, Buckingham, where he remained till his death in 1694. During this twenty years of faithful service he was much beloved by his parishioners. He spent much time in prayer. In the pulpit his words were with power, and in the pastorate his labours were useful and acceptable. Mr. Baxter calls him "the glory of the Church of England," and says, "the frame of his spirit was so heavenly, his deportment so humble and obliging, his discourse of spiritual things and little else could we hear from him so weighty, with such apt words and delightful air, that it charmed all that had any spiritual relish, and was not burdensome to others, as discourses of that nature have been from other ministers." As Mr. Mason approached his end, his views on the personal reign of Christ on earth and the resurrection of the dead were tinged with an exaggerated enthusiasm. He professed that he had seen the Lord ; and so spoke in a discourse delivered at Water Stratford, in 1694, and entitled " The Midnight Cry," as to lead some there to expect the immediate coming of Christ. Mr. Mason s last words were, " I am full of the loving-kindness of the Lord."
Mr. Mason was the author of " Spiritual Songs, or Songs of Praise to Almighty God, upon several occasions, together with the Song of Songs, which is Solomon s," first edition, 1683. Also of " Dives and Lazarus, a Sacred Poem, incorporated with the former in 1685." To the later editions of the first-mentioned work, from the year 1692, the " Penitential Cries " were added. They were written chiefly by the Rev. Thomas Shepherd, of Braintree (1665 1739), a Congregational minister; but Mr. Mason wrote six of them. Mr. Daniel Sedgwick has published
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