Norton, John (0, an eminent Presbyterian di- vine, was born in Hertfordshire, England, in 1606, and educated at the University of Cambridge; and, after taking holy orders in the Anglican Establishment, was made curate of Starford. A lecture was at that time supported at Starford by a number of pious ministers. Through their labors Mr. Norton, who was himself a preacher, though, like many others, ignorant of his own character, and unacquainted with the truth as it is in Jesus, was impressed with a sense of his sin, and by the agency of the Holy Spirit was brought to repentance. The view of his own heart and life, compared with the lioly law of God, almost overwhelmed him with despair; but at length the promises of the Gospel administered to him inexpressible joy. His attention had been hitherto occupied in literary and scientific pursuits, but he now devoted himself exclusively to the study of theology ; and being by his own experience acquainted with re- pentance and faith and holiness, he preached upon these subjects with zeal and effect. He soon became eminent. He adopted the creed and practice of the Puritans, and in 1G35 emigrated to New England. He was first settled in the ministry at Ipswich, but was af- terwards prevailed on to remove to Boston. In 16G2 he was appointed one of the two agents of the colony to
address king Charles on his restoration, but they did not fully succeed in the objects of their mission. He died in 1663. In his natural temper Mr. Norton was somewhat irascible, but being taught by the grace of God to govern his passions, his renewed heart rendered him meek, courteous, and amiable. Still a mistaken zeal for the truth made him, as it made his contempo- raries, prone to persecution. He wrote. The Orthodox Fvanf/elist, or a Treatise icherein many great evangelical Truths are briefly discussed, etc. (Lond. 1654, 4to) : — The Sufferings of Christ (1653): — The Heart of New Eng- land rent at the Blasphemies of the present Generation, or a brief Tractate concerning the Doctrines of the Quak- ers (1660) : — and a number of political Tracts, etc. — Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. ii, 2216; Drake, Diet, of Amer. Biog. s. V. ; AUibone, Diet, of Brit, and A mer. A uthors, s. V.
Norton, John (2), an American Presbyterian min- ister, nephew of the preceding, was born about 1650, was educated at Harvard University, class of 1671, and, after entering the ministry in 1678, became second pas- tor at Hingham, Mass. He died in 1716. He was noted as a pulpit orator of no mean order, and generally beloved by his people. See Lincoln, Hist, of Hingham.
Norton, John (3), a Congregational minister, was born at Berlin, Conn., in 1716, and was educated at Yale College, class of 1737. He then pursued a course in theology, and was ordained in Deerfield, Conn., in 1741. He settled as pastor at Bernardstown, Mass. During the colonial war he was chaplain at Fort Massachu- setts, and at the time of its capture was taken to Can- ada. He remained there one year, and returned to Boston. Nov. 30, 1748, he was installed pastor of the Congregational Church at East Hampton, Conn., where he labored nearly thirty years. He died March 24, 1778. Norton published a narrative of his captivity at Boston (1748 ; a new edition, with notes by S. G. Drake, was brought out in 1870).
Norton, Noah, a Baptist minister, was born near the close of the last century. He was early converted; ordained for the ministry in 1822; and became pastor of the Second Church in Providence, Me. In 1836 he be- came pastor of the Church in Brunswick, and died in 1851. "He was a good minister of Christ." See^lnier. Baptist Register, 1852, p. 419.
Nor'way (Norweg. Norge), the western portion of the Scandinavian i)eninsula, which, together with Swe- den, forms one joint kingdom, is situated between 57° 58' and 71° 10' N. lat., and between 5° and 28° E. long. It is bounded on the E. by Sweden and Russia, and on every other side is surrounded by water, having the Skager Rack to the S., the German Ocean to the W., and the Arctic Sea to the N. Its length is about 1100 miles, and its greatest width about 250 miles; but be- tween the lats. of 67° and 68° it measures little more than 25 miles in breadth. The area is given as 121,779 square miles, and the population (in 1873) as 1,763,000. The whole of the Scandinavian peninsula consists of a connected mountain mass, which, in the southern and western parts of Norway, constitutes one continuous tract of rocky highlands, with steep declivities dijiping into the sea, and only here and there broken by narrow tracts of arable land. Of the numerous summits which lie along the water-shed, and which rise above the line of perpetual snow, the highest, known as the Galdhiipig, has an elevation of 8300 feet. The mean level of the range, which seldom rises more than 4000 feet above the sea, is occupied by extensive snow-fields, from which glaciers descend t~ the edge of the sea, while here and there the vast snow -plain is broken by ^fjords (i.e. friths), some of which, as the Folden Fjord, penetrate npAvards of seventy miles through the rocky masses. These inlets run, in many cases, through the middle of long and broad finely wooded valleys, enclosed by rocky wails, which are either quite bare, or covered with li- chens or mosses or stunted brushwood, among which