Edward Norris Kirk, an American clergyman, born in New York, Aug. 14, 1802, died in Boston, March 27, 1874. He graduated at the college of New Jersey in 1820, and studied law for 18 months, but afterward entered and graduated at the theological school in Princeton. He was for a time agent in the southern states for the American board of foreign missions, and in 1828 became pastor of a Presbyterian church organized for him in Albany, N. Y. In 1837 he resigned on account of ill health, and visited Europe, preaching in London, and for several months in Paris. Being appointed secretary of the foreign evangelical society, he returned to the United States in 1839, to present the claims of Roman Catholic countries as a field for missionary effort. In 1842 he became pastor of the Mount Vernon church in Boston, which was organized for him, and where he preached till 1871, when his failing health compelled the transfer of active labor to a colleague. In 1856 he visited Paris, at the request of the American and foreign Christian union, for the purpose of establishing American Protestant worship in that city. While assiduous in the duties of his own parish, he was a frequent and most acceptable preacher in other parishes, particularly in times of special religious interest.

During his last years he became almost entirely blind; he was active, however, in ministerial meetings, and led an interesting discussion on revivals only four days before his death. He received the degree of D. D. from Amherst college. At the time of his death he was president of the American missionary association. Besides about 30 occasional sermons and addresses, he published two volumes of sermons and a volume of "Lectures on the Parables." He also wrote some short works which were published by the American tract society in Boston, and translated Gaussen's Theopneustie, a treatise on the inspiration of the Scriptures.