PRESCOTT 



4810 



PRESCOTT 



synod. Controlling all is the General Assembly, 

 to which appeals and complaints may be car- 

 ried from the lower bodies when it meets once 

 a year. In the United States appeals from the 

 synods to the General Assembly are limited to 

 cases involving doctrine and government. Pres- 

 byterian doctrine is set forth in the Westmin- 

 ster Confession of Faith and the Longer and 

 Shorter catechisms. 



History. At the time of the Reformation, in 

 the sixteenth century, John Calvin organized 

 the Reformed Church at Geneva, Switzerland, 

 under the plan of government which is now 

 used in the Presbyterian Church. Thus he has 

 been considered the founder of Presbyterian- 

 ism, although the Waldenses (which see) had a 

 similar system of government three centuries 

 earlier. In 1557 some of the most powerful 

 barons in Scotland bound themselves by a 

 solemn "Covenant" to overthrow all attempts 

 to crush Protestantism, which had been intro- 

 duced into their country by John Knox (which 

 see), and three years later the Reformed doc- 

 trine was formally recognized by the Scottish 

 Parliament. Ultimately Presbyterianism was 

 established as the state religion of Scotland. 

 During the seventeenth century the Dutch car- 

 ried Presbyterianism to America, building the 

 first Reformed Church of the new country at 

 New Amsterdam in 1628, Gradually the de- 

 nomination broadened its field, until at present 

 there are about 9,000,000 Presbyterians in the 

 world, over 2,000,000 of them being in the 

 United States and 1,115,000 in Canada. 



There are twelve branches of the Church in 

 America, the two largest being the Northern 

 and t"he Southern, which separated at the time 

 of the War of Secession; another large branch, 

 known as the Cumberland, was formed in 1810, 

 adopting the Westminster Confession of Faith, 

 which all Presbyterians follow, but making va- 

 rious changes. In 1907 the Cumberland Pres- 

 byterians united with the main body, the 

 Northern branch, known officially as the Pres- 

 byterian Church in the United States of 

 America. The United Presbyterians of America 

 are distinguished by the fact that they sing 

 only Psalms at their religious services. In 1873 

 a World's Alliance was organized among all 

 branches, to facilitate and unify their mission- 

 ary work. B.C. 



Consult Hays'a Presbyterians : A Popular Nar- 

 rative; Zenos's The Presbyterian Churches: 

 Their Place in Modern Christendom. 



PRESCOTT, pres'kot, a town in Ontario, 

 the county town of Grenville County. It is 



situated on the Saint Lawrence River, and is 

 the point at which river navigation ends and 

 hike navigation begins. It is twelve miles east 

 of Brockville by rail, and is directly across the 

 Saint Lawrence (one and one-half miles) from 

 Ogdensburg, N. Y. It is a port of call for all 

 boats, both those going upward to the Great 

 Lakes and those going downward on the river. 

 Prescott is on the Canadian Pacific and Grand 

 Trunk railways, and at Ogdensburg, which is 

 reached by a ferry, has connection with the 

 New York Central. Its largest industrial es- 

 tablishments are an emery wheel factory, a mil- 

 lion-bushel grain elevator, planing mill, veneer 

 factory and creamery. The Dominion govern- 

 ment maintains marine works here. Until the 

 adoption of prohibition in Ontario, during the 

 War of the Nations, a brewery and a distillery 

 were among the largest and most 'active of the 

 local establishments. Population in 1911, 2,801 ; 

 in 1916, estimated, 3,000. W.J.R. 



PRESCOTT, ARIZ., the county seat of Yava- 

 pai County, is situated at an altitude of 5,347 

 feet on a broad mesa surrounded by foothills of 

 the Rocky Mountains. It is near the geo- 

 graphical center of the state, 137 miles by rail 

 north and west of Phoenix, the state capital, 

 and is served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa 

 Fe System. Extensive copper mining, stock 

 raising and agriculture are the chief sources of 

 revenue of the surrounding country. In the 

 center of the city is the Plaza, a park of five 

 acres, in which is the Rough Riders' monument 

 executed by Solon Borglum, and the town has 

 a courthouse, erected at a cost of $250,000, a 

 $90,000 high school, a Carnegie Library, the 

 Pioneers Home, Saint Joseph's Academy, and 

 several sanatoriums and hospitals. The city 

 has an annual celebration of Frontier Days, at 

 which broncho riding is a leading feature. The 

 altitude and fine climate of Prescott are ex- 

 ceedingly beneficial to those suffering with tu- 

 berculosis. 



The place was settled in 1863 and was named 

 for William H. Prescott, the American histo- 

 rian. It was the former capital of the Territory 

 of Arizona. In the vicinity are many interest- 

 ing Indian ruins and specimens of rock writing. 

 Population in 1910, 5,092. 



PRESCOTT, WILLIAM HICKLING .(1796-1859), 

 an American historian, grandson of William 

 Prescott. He was born in Salem, Mass., and 

 educated at Harvard, from which he was gradu- 

 ated at the age of eighteen. Because of the loss 

 of one eye by an accidental injury while in 

 college and the partial loss of the other through 



