Flourishing between the age of Quarles and Watts, Mason attained a style which is described by Montgomery as “a middle tint between the raw colouring of the former and the daylight tint of the latter. His talent is equally poised between both, having more vigour and more versatility than that of either his forerunner or his successor.”[573] His merit as a hymn-writer—extraordinary for the age in which he lived—seems to have been appreciated by Pope, Watts, and the Wesleys, who studied and copied him; but he was much neglected for a long time, to be reinstated in popular favour of late years.
Mason’s Song of Praise for the Evening is now well known, but, in its modern form, we miss the middle stanza of the original:—
“Now from the altar of my heart
Let incense-flames arise:
Assist me, Lord, to offer up
Mine evening sacrifice.
Awake, my love; awake, my joy;
Awake, my heart and tongue;
Sleep not when mercies loudly call,
Break forth into a song.