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Who was William Norton?
#4
Here's some more information that I've managed to piece together.  First, let me explain why I think understanding the background of William Norton is important.  Every translation of the Bible has a bias.  This is especially evident with translations done by a single person.  The modern efforts of the Peshitta/English versions vary widely in their theological viewpoints.  Each translator would argue and say they are providing an accurate translation but just the choice of which English word to use gives evidence of the translator's bias.

Hardly anything is known about William Norton.  Therefore, there is not much information as to the bias he approached his translation with.  Hopefully the following information sheds a little more light on him.

According to worldcat, here are the works published by William Norton querying from 1800-1915.

The Baptist Library : a republication of standard Baptist works
by William Norton; Baptist Tract Society,;London Strict Baptist Library,; Baptist College, Chamber Hall,;
Publisher: 1843.

Baptist Chapel, St. Mary's, Norwich : free communion a breach of the trusts on which the property is held
by William Norton
Publisher: London : Hall and Co., 1847.

Honduras: a record of facts and reply to a pamphlet entitled "Belize;" "Ordered by the committee of the Baptist missionary society, at their meeting held June 15th, 1848, to be printed for private circulation."
by William Norton, of Egham Surrey.; Frederick Crowe
Publisher: London, Printed by Stewart and Murray, 1849.

The church, its mission, government, and worship : an examination of the will of Christ respecting the spiritual labours and the livelihood of preachers, church-elders and gifted church-members
by William Norton
Publisher: London : Trübner and Co., 1858.

The way of salvation
by William Norton
Publisher: New York : Thomas Holman, [18--]

A revised version of all the passages in the book of the New Covenant : commonly called the New Testament, which refer, or may be thought to refer to Christian baptism ; printed side by side with that of the Church of England, now in common use ; with a view to shew, more fully and exactly, the meaning of the inspired Greek original.
by William Norton; Baptist Tract Society.
Publisher: London : Baptist Tract Society : Elliot Stock, [18--]

To the young convert.
by William Norton; Baptist Tract Society.;
Publisher: [London] : Published for the Baptist Tract Society by Elliot Stock, [18--]

El Nuevo Pacto and its circulation.
by William Norton
Publisher: Scotland : T. Constable, [18--]

The Ethiopian treasurer
by William Norton; Baptist Tract Society.
Publisher: London : Elliot Stock, [1862?]

George Herbert Orchard.
by William Norton; Baptist Tract Society.
Publisher: [London] : Published for the Baptist Tract Society by Elliot Stock, [1864?]

The churches of God : compared with those which are the hope of some free-communion Baptists, who desire union with "The existing great parties in Christendom". An examination of sentiments expressed in the address delivered by Joseph Angus, D.D., as chairman of the Baptist Union, in April, 1865, and in his prize essay on christian churches, published in 1862
by William Norton; Joseph Angus; Baptist Union of Great Britain.
Publisher: London : Elliot Stock, 1866

Responsibility: thoughts on the guilt and doom of the impenitent.
by William Norton
Publisher: London, E. Stock, 1868.

Sacred songs for all.
by William Norton;
Publisher: Chumleigh : Wm. Norton, [1874]

Hymns of hope : founded on the Psalms and the New Covenant.
by William Norton;
Publisher: London : E. Stock, 1879.

The history of the Serampore Baptist mission.
by William Norton
Publisher: Finsbury [England] : J. Briscoe, 1884.

The Revised English Version of the Old-Covenant Scriptures compared with inspired renderings in the New-Covenant Scriptures, and with the ancient Greek and Syriac versions
by William Norton
Publisher: London : W.K. Bloom, 1886.

A translation, in English daily used, of the Peshito-Syriac text, and of the received Greek text, of Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, and 1 John : with an introduction on the Peshito-Syriac text, and the revised Greek text of 1881
by William NORTON, of North Devon.;
Publisher: London : W.K. Bloom, 1889.

A translation, in English daily used, of the seventeen letters forming part of the Peshito-Syriac books of the new covenant writings : which have been received throughout the east, from the beginning, as written in Syriac by inspiration of God : a like translation of the inspired Greek text of these letters, in a corresponding column on each page ...
by William Norton;
Publisher: London : W.K. Bloom, 1890.


The first publication is 1843 and the last is 1890.  The evidence seems to indicate that he was of Baptist faith and of the Particular Baptist denomination.  This can be seen in the 1847 work where he writes 125 pages describing a law suit against the pastor of his church when they started allowing "free communion".  This was offering communion to congregants who had not been baptized by immersion.  The work in 1866 was a treatise outlining his strong arguments against this practice.  By the way, the English court ruled in favor of the pastor which sparked Norton's work of condemnation of the ruling and disgust that the courts had any say into the life of an independent church.

The Particular Baptists were great supporters of the Baptist Missionary Society who translated the Bible into many languages during the period.  This could be why Norton himself was such a scholar of languages and made his own translation.  His work on the History of the Serampore Baptist Mission of India is especially interesting.  Serampore was established by Carrey along with Joshua Marshman - both scholars and translators.  Marshman studied Syriac and was the first to translate the Bible into the Chinese language.  This would have been especially inspirational to Norton.

An interesting piece of trivia is that Norton attended Baptist Chapel, St. Mary's Norwich in 1847 (evidenced by his published book).   This church no longer exists - it was bombed during World War II and was not rebuilt.

This is a writeup of the differences among Baptists of the time from the Encyclopedia Britanica (http://www.britannica.com/topic/Baptist#ref466518):

"There were two groups in early Baptist life: the Particular Baptists and the General Baptists. The Particular Baptists adhered to the doctrine of a particular atonement—that Christ died only for an elect—and were strongly Calvinist (following the Reformation teachings of John Calvin) in orientation; the General Baptists held to the doctrine of a general atonement—that Christ died for all people and not only for an elect—and represented the more moderate Calvinism of Jacobus Arminius, a 17th-century Dutch theologian. The two currents were also distinguished by a difference in churchmanship related to their respective points of origin. The General Baptists had emerged from the English Separatists, whereas the Particular Baptists had their roots in non-Separatist independency.

Both the Separatists and the non-Separatists were congregationalist. They shared the same convictions with regard to the nature and government of the church. They believed that church life should be ordered according to the pattern of the New Testament churches, and to them this meant that churches should be self-governing bodies composed of believers only.

They differed, however, in their attitude toward the Church of England. The Separatists contended that the Church of England was a false church and insisted that the break with it must be complete. The non-Separatists, more ecumenical in spirit, sought to maintain some bond of unity among Christians. While they believed that it was necessary to separate themselves from the corruption of parish churches, they also believed that it would be a breach of Christian charity to refuse all forms of communication and fellowship. While many non-Separatists withdrew and established a worship of their own, they would not go so far as to assert that the parish churches were devoid of all marks of a true church."


Norton's 1843 work was published through the Strict Baptist Library.  Their Historical Society has a search for records.  They do list a William Norton who was a pastor and was born 1812 and died 1890.

http://www.sbhs.org.uk/cgi-bin/pnsearch....arch=21384


In addition I have found that he was the editor for the Baptist Tract Society and the Particular Baptist periodical


-----------------------------------------------------
Mr. Woodruff  of Strict Baptist Historical Society found several documents in their collection regarding Norton.  One is a several page biographical review of his life and accomplishments.  Here are some biographical events of his life:


William Norton LL.D

24.12.1812                            Born – Old Buckenham, Norfolk
2 May 1832                           Baptised –  by Rev Joseph Kinghorn
April 1833                               admitted to Stepney College, London
1835                                       offered for BMS East Indies but declined by BMS on health grounds
15 May 1836                          commenced ministry at Old Ford, Bow, London after 3 months trial
29 June 1836                          recognition service at Old Ford, Bow, London
1838-1840                             joint editor of The Primitive Communionist
1840                                      married Miss Mary Ann Franks
late 1840                                resigned pastorate at Bow due to relaxed throat and jaundice
1841-1847                             joint editor of The Primitive Church Magazine
                                              moved from Bow to Bath, Somerset briefly; then to Highgate, London where their only
                                              son was born; then to Islington & Dalston, London.

1848                                      moved to Egham Hill, Surrey for health
1859                                      moved to Sutton, Surrey
1873                                      moved to Chulmleigh, Devon
12 August 1890                     died at Chulmleigh, Devon aged 77
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Messages In This Thread
Who was William Norton? - by cgjedi - 11-23-2015, 09:04 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by Thirdwoe - 11-24-2015, 06:33 AM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by cgjedi - 11-24-2015, 02:09 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by cgjedi - 11-24-2015, 08:21 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by Thirdwoe - 11-25-2015, 06:21 AM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by cgjedi - 11-25-2015, 02:36 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by Thirdwoe - 11-25-2015, 06:23 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by sestir - 11-25-2015, 06:28 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by cgjedi - 11-25-2015, 07:21 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by Thirdwoe - 11-26-2015, 07:52 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by cgjedi - 11-26-2015, 08:10 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by Thirdwoe - 11-26-2015, 09:32 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by cgjedi - 11-26-2015, 10:49 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by Thirdwoe - 11-26-2015, 11:56 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by cgjedi - 11-27-2015, 12:57 AM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by cgjedi - 11-30-2015, 03:51 PM
RE: Who was William Norton? - by Thirdwoe - 12-14-2015, 12:02 AM

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