John Mason

John Mason (1646?–1694) was an English clergyman, rector of Water Stratford in Buckinghamshire. He is remembered for his Spiritual Songs, first published in 1683, which were among the first English hymns written for congregational singing.

The collection pairs thirty-three Songs of Praise (thirty are given here, three being too damaged in the source) on the great occasions of Christian life with a verse rendering and a paraphrase of the Song of Songs, which Mason reads as a dialogue between Christ and his Church. The text here is the sixth edition of 1699, five years after his death.