Eulogy

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:1-3)

Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. (Malachi 3: 16-17).

Whether or not the world is entering the age of trouble foretold by Daniel, John Crossett belonged to the class of those who turn many to righteousness. Hundreds of students passed through his classes and were moved by the virtue of his mind and character, but even those who had only a stray conversation with him felt his influence; everyone acquainted with him to any degree found himself reasoning about his values and examining his principles. He was a cross between Socrates and Samuel Johnson: he was not the servant of any ideology, and he was no respecter of persons; he was a lover of truth and a follower of reason, and in consequence, like Johnson, he was often a trial to himself and to those around him. Like Socrates, he chose to lead a life which caused him suffering. By the persistent Socratic discourse he engaged in and by the example he himself set, he compelled his students and all who knew him to search for truth and to submit to reason. For that, like Socrates, he was loved by some and hated by others. He made many enemies because he preferred truth to anything, including friendship and his own comfort. If he had prudently kept his own counsel and flattered and dissembled, as we all do, when the occasion demanded, his life would not have been as difficult as it was. Because he gave unstintingly to students, he lacked time to devote to his own interests and to his own research. If he had taken time for him­ self, he would surely have been a well-known, respected scholar. I never knew a keener, more insightful mind than his. And because he turned his uncompromising, unflattering Socratic gaze on himself more than on anyone else, he was a constant trouble to himself.

But the world is a much better place because of him-­and of how many other people could the same thing be truthfully said? Many people, not all of them students of his, whose talents and energies might have been dissipated in cynicism, self-indulgence, apathy, indolence, or neurosis, were converted by him to useful, active lives of service. This is, of course, an age of conversion—to Marxism, to women’s Iiberation, to Christianity. John converted people to a love of truth; and that spirit working in their lives brought them first to a love of goodness and then to a love of God.

And John tackled the hard cases. Our culture is replete with people, such as Billy Graham, who mass produce conversions. John struggled with those who could not be reached by mass methods. He pursued the sophisticated who had seen it all and felt that nothing was worth seeing, the intellectually gifted who thought there was nothing to know, the morally sensitive who believed there were no values. He gave them weeks and months of individual attention, which they often enough repaid with vituperation and hostility; but in many cases he finally won them and turned them from the selfishness of despair to a life of righteousness and a love of something greater than themselves. He was a gleaner in God’s vineyard, and he gave his life to that job.

He was the best man I ever knew. When God goes to make up his jewels, may John’s spirit shine among them as the stars in heaven.

Eleonore Stump