Other Lords would seize on me but I to Thee belong

Other Lords would seize on me but I to Thee belong

A Song of Praise for Creation

John Mason

Thou wast, O God: And thou was Blest.

Before the World begun;

Of thine Eternity possest

Before Time’s Glass did run.

Thou needest none thy Praise to sing,

As if thy Joy could fade.

Could’st thou have needed any thing,

Thou could’st have nothing made.


Thou spak’st, and Heav’n and Earth appear’d,

And answer’d to thy Call;

As if their Maker’s Voice they heard,

Which is the Creatures’ ALL.

Thou spak’st the Word, most mighty Lord,

Thy Word went forth with speed;

Thy Will, O Lord, it was thy Word,

Thy Word it was thy Deed.

Thou brought’st forth Adam from the Ground,

And Eve out of his Side;

Thy Blessing made the Earth abound

With these Two multiply’d.

Those three great Leaves, Heav’n, Sea and Land;

Thy Name in Figures show;

Brutes feel the Bounty of thy Hand,

But I my Maker know.

Should not I here thy Servant be,

Whose Creatures serve me here?

My Lord, whom should I fear, but Thee,

Who am thy Creatures Fear?

To whom, Lord, should I Sing, but Thee,

The Maker of my Tongue?

Lo! Other Lords would seize on me,

But I to Thee belong:

As Waters haste unto their Sea,

And Earth unto its Earth;

So let my Soul return to Thee,

From whom it had its Birth.

But Ah! I’m fallen in the Night,

And cannot come to thee;

Yet speak the Word, Let there be Light,

It shall Enlighten me:

And let thy Word, most Mighty Lord,

Thy Fallen Creature raise;

O make me o’er again, and I

Shall sing my Maker’s Praise.

I Love this hymn. John Mason lived from 1645-1694 in England.
The first two stanzas give poetic expression to God’s self-existence. They celebrate that the God who created everything from nothing eternally needs nothing.
The next two stanzas praise His Word. His Word is His deed – always powerfully performing what He speaks. The creation itself exists in obedience to His Word.
The middle section, on humanity, asks the question – since the creatures serve me (since I am the pinnacle of creation, made in God’s image) shouldn’t I serve God?
The final two stanzas move from our fallenness to our redemption. Just as God spoke and there was light so he speaks the word of the gospel into darkened hearts.

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