Born: 1623, Brad­field Mon­a­chor­um, Suf­folk, Eng­land.

Died: Feb­ru­a­ry 4, 1683, Bris­tol, Eng­land.

Buried: South aisle, ca­thed­ral church, Bris­tol, Eng­land.

Crossman earned a Ba­che­lor of Di­vin­i­ty at Pem­broke Coll­ege, Cam­bridge, and was Pre­ben­da­ry of Bris­tol. After grad­u­a­tion, he min­is­tered to both an An­gli­can con­gre­ga­tion at All Saints, Sud­bu­ry, and to a Pur­i­tan con­gre­ga­tion as well. Cross­man sym­pa­thized with the Pur­i­tan cause, and at­tend­ed the 1661 Sa­voy Con­fer­ence, which at­tempt­ed to up­date the Book of Com­mon Pray­er so both Pur­i­tans and An­gli­cans could use it. The con­fer­ence failed, and the 1662 Act of Un­i­form­i­ty ex­pelled some 2,000 min­is­ters from the Church, in­clud­ing Cross­man. He re­cant­ed short­ly there­af­ter, and was or­dained in 1665, be­com­ing a roy­al chap­lain. He re­ceived a post at Bris­tol in 1667, and be­came Dean of Bris­tol Ca­thed­ral in 1683. Cros­sman’s works in­clude:

• The Young Man’s Med­i­ta­tion, or Some Few Sac­red Po­ems up­on Se­lect Sub­jects, and Script­ures (Lon­don: J. H. & c., 1664)

Sources

Hymns

1. Farewell, Poor World, I Must Be Gone
2. Jerusalem on High
3. My Life’s a Shade, My Days
4. My Song Is Love Unknown
5. Sweet Place