Norris, Edward

Norris, Edward a divine of American colonial days, was born in England about 1589, and came to this country in 1639. In the mother country he had been a teacher and minister in Gloucester; in the colonies he devoted himself entirely to pulpit labors. In 1640 he was made pastor at Salem, Mass., and served that charge until his death, April 10, 1659. He was tolerant, did not join in the persecution of Gorton and the Anabaptists, and withstood the witchcraft delusion of 1651-54; but in 1653 he wrote in favor of making war with the Dutch. He published in London in 1636 a treatise on Asking for Temporal Blessings, and The New Gospel not the True Gospel, etc. (1638, 4to), a reply to John Trask's True Gospel Vindicated (Lond. 1636). See Drake, Dict, of Amer. Biog. p. 662.