Crossman, Samuel

Author

b Bradfield Monarchorum, Suffolk c1624, d Bristol, 1683/4. After study at Pembroke Coll Cambridge (BD) he became vicar of All Saints’ Sudbury, Suffolk, which was in effect a Congregational or Independent puritan church. He was appointed a ‘messenger’ to the Savoy Conference of 1658, and 1662 was one of the ejected clergy who would not conform to the new Prayer Book and canons. However, a change of heart led him in 1665 to be ordained by a bishop, even becoming one of the king’s chaplains. In 1667 he became a Prebendary of Bristol and Vicar of St Nicholas’ ch; in 1682 he was chosen to be the cathedral’s treasurer, but his key appointment as Dean in 1683 was cut short by his death a few months later at the age of 59. Some of his more notable sermons, preached in Bristol and London, were printed. His verse was published in 1664 as The Young Man’s Meditation; or Some few Sacred Poems on Select Subjects, and Scriptures; headed by lines from Philo and G Herbert. Among these 9 items are an eloquent text ‘Upon the Fifth of November’ and two which have become favourite hymns among Free and Anglican churches. They have sometimes been printed (keeping the best till last?) together with the texts of John Ryland and Clare Taylor, SC followed the 1664 book with The Young Man’s Monitor. Nos.403, 970.