the next centurj', till it was grasped bj' the vigorous and graceful hands of Berkeley. It may be difficult to trace any direct connection V)etween the author of the Principles of Human Knowlidgc and the author of The Theory of the Ideal, or Intelligent World. There may have been no indebtedness on the part of the Dublin idealist to the idealist of Bemerton, but the impulse of thought is the same; the lineof Platonic speculation runs forward from one to the other. Norris lias completely passed out of sight, and Berkeley is a familiar name to every student of philosophy. But Norris, although half forgotten, is really as striking and signilicant a figure in the history of English philosophy. He was an idealist of the purest type, sustained by the h)ftiest inspiration." {Rational Theology and Christian I^hilosophy, ii, 453, 454). His principal works are. An Account of Reason and Faith in Relation to the Mysteries of Christianity (London, 1697, 8vo), written in refutation of Toland's Christianity not Mysterious. " He attempted to prove," saj-s Franck, "not that reason deceives us, for if this were so there would be no longer anj^ distinction be- tween truth and error, but that it is not sufficient for us in the measure we possess, not being so extensive as truth -itself, or as the truths we need to know for our guidance and our support, and that, besides our instinc- tive and demonstrative knowledge, we need revelation. We are not to choose between reason and some other power contradicting her assertions, but only to examine whether any dogma in which we are asked to believe is a revealed dogma or not; whether it is to be regarded as a result of the human mind, or whether there are historical proofs that it emanated from a divine source, and has been imparted to us by supernatural means." Reason, according to Norris, is simply the exact measure of truth ; i. e. divine reason, which differs onh' from hu- man reason in degree, not in nature. In his Essay to- wards the Theory of the Ideal, or Intelligible Wojid (Lond. 1701-4, 2 vols. 8vo), to which Ave have referred above in the quotation from Tulloch, Norris gives a complete exposition of Malebranche's system — the the- ory that we perceive all things in God, whose thoughts, to use such a term, are our ideal forms — which he greatly admired, and he refutes with great power the assertions of Locke and of the sensualists. Besides the above, he Avrote Hierocles upon the Golden Verses of the Pythago- reans (Oxf. 1682, 8vo) : — An Idea of Happiness (Lond. 1683, 4to) : — A Carnival of Knaves, or Whiggism plainly Dispilayed and Burlesqued (ibid. 1683, 4to) : — Tractatus adversus reprobationis absolutce decretum (ibid. 1683, 4to) : — Poems and JJiscoitrses occasioncdly icritten (ibid. 1684, 8 vo) : — ,4 Collection of Miscellanies, consisting of Poems, Essays, L)iscou7'ses, and Letters (Oxf. 1687, 8vo ; 5th ed. Lond. 1716, 8vo) -.—The Theory and Regulation of Love, a Moral Essay, in two Parts ; to ivhich are added Letters, Philosophical and Moral, be- tiveen the A uthor and Dr. Henry More (Oxf. 1688, 8vo) : — Reason and Religion, or the Grounds and Jleasiires of Devotion considered from the Nature of God and the Nature of Man (Lond. 1689, 8 vo) : — Upon the Conduct of Human Life 7vith Reference to the Study of I^earning and Knowledge (ibid. 1690-91, 8vo) : — Christian Blessed- ness (ibid. 1690, 8vo); in 1691 he wrote a defence of this work, which had been attacked by the Separatists: — Practical Discourses upoii several Divine Subjects (ibid. 1691-98, 4 vols. 8vo; often reprinted): — Two Treatises concerning the Divine Light (ibid. 1692, 8vo) ; directed against the Quakers : — Spiritual Counsel, or the Fa- ther's Advice to his Children (ibid. 1694, 8vo) : — Letters concerning the Love of God (ibid. 1695, 1705, 8vo) : — A Philosophical Discourse concerning the Natural Immor- tality nf the Soul (ibid. 1708, 8 vo) ; Dodwcll wrote an answer to this work at the close of his Natural Mortal- ity of the Human Soul (1708), and pretends to prove his position by texts of Scripture: — IVeatise concerning Christian Prudence (ibid. 1710, 8vo) : — Treatise concei-n- ing Humility (ibid. 1710, 8vo). See Biographia Britan- nica, s. v. ; Chalmers, General Biog. Diet. s. v. ; Franck,
NORPJS
179
NORSE MYTHOLOGY
Diet, des sciences philosophiques, vol. iv ; Darling. Cycl. Biblioq. ii, 2211 ; Lewes, Hist, of Philos. vol. ii; Ueber- weg, Hist, of Philos. ii, 89, 366; Tulloch, ^nC. Theol. in England in the llth Century, ii, 227, 443, 452 sq. ; Mid- dleton. Life, i, 19, 64, 75, 176, 374, 378, 481 ; ii, 71, 170, 228, 242; Hagenbach, Hist, of Doctrines, ii, 183, 193, 225,227, (J. H.W.)
Norris, John (2), an English philanthropist to whom Cambridge University is greatly indebted, was bom at Norfolk in 1734. He died Jan. 3, 1777, at Lon- don. He was of a peculiarly serious turn of mind, fond of inquiry into religious subjects, of very strong sense and extensive learning, a lover of justice, of great hu- manity, and ever extending his bounty to distressed objects : but he was of a reserved disposition, so that he seldom conciliated the affections, except of those who most intimately knew him; and, though respected by all, there were few who felt themselves cheerful in his society. His regard for religion strongly testified itself in his will, whereby, among a number of charitable leg- acies to a large amount, he left an estate of £190 per annum for the purpose of establishing a professorship at Cambridge, with a salary of £120 per year to the pro- fessor, besides other advantages for lectures on religious subjects. Upon his death this, with other trusts, was carried into execution, and was called the Norrisian Professorship, the inestimable value of which establish- ment has been proved by the lectures published by Dr. Hey, and numerous disputations upon religious subjects printed at the Cambridge press, under the title of Nor- risian Prize Essays. Mr. Norris's estate, worth about £4000 per annum, descended to his daughter.