PRE 



PRE 



the government of the church, as appoint- 

 ed in the New Testament, is by Presby- 

 ters. They acknowledge no head of the 

 church but Jesus Christ. According to 

 the original constitution of the Presbyte- 

 rian church or congregation, they acknow- 

 ledge the unity and equality of three per- 

 sons in the Godhead : but the greater 

 part of the Presbyterians, of the present 

 day, are Unitarians, either what are op- 

 probriously called Brians, or Socinians. 



They acknowledge the authority and 

 sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures to sal- 

 vation. They generally believe, that all 

 corruption and depravity is contracted, 

 and not original. They are, for the most 

 part, Paedobaptists, and admit the sacra- 

 ment of the Lord's Supper, which Dr. 

 Watts says, " is eating bread and drink- 

 ing wine in the church, in remembrance 

 of the death of Christ." They, in gene- 

 ral, reject the doctrine of predestination, 

 and some other doctrines intimately con- 

 nected therewith. The belief and prac- 

 tice of the modern English Presbytenans 

 are pretty faithfully described in " An Ab- 

 stract of a Profession of Faith made at a 

 public Ordination at the Old Jewry, in 

 1756 ;" and also in some " Questions 

 proposed to the Rev Thomas Wright, at 

 his Ordination, May 31, 1759, with the 

 Answers thereto." These papers may be 

 seen in the " History of Religion," pub- 

 lished anonymously, in four vols. 8vo. in 

 the year 1764. We close our account of 

 the Presbyterians by observing, that a lec- 

 ture, first set up in the year 1695, at Sal- 

 ter's Hall, London, is still continued on 

 the original foundation, and is supported 

 by the contributions of the friends of Pres- 

 byterianism in the city of London, and its 

 vicinity. 



PRESENTMENT of offences, is that 

 which the grand jury find of their own 

 knowledge, and present to the court, 

 without any bill of indictment laid before 

 them at the suit of the King, as a present- 

 ment of a nuisance, a libel, and the like ; 

 upon which the officer of the court must 

 afterwards frame an indictment, before 

 the party presented can be put to answer 

 it. There are also presentments by jus- 

 tices of the peace, constables, surveyors 

 of the highways, churchwardens, Sec. 



PRESS, in the mechanic art, a machine 

 made of iron or wood, serving to squeeze 

 or compress any body very close. 



The ordinary presses consist of six 

 members, or pieces, viz. two flat smooth 

 planks, between which the things to be 

 pressed are laid; two screws, or worms, 

 fastened to the lower plank, and passing 



through two holes in the upper ; and two 

 nuts, in form of an S, serving to drive the 

 upper plank, which is moveable, against 

 the lower, which is stable, and without 

 motion. Presses, used for expressing of 

 liquors, are of various kinds : some, in 

 most respects, the same with the common 

 presses, excepting that the under plank 

 is perforated with a great number of 

 holesi to let the juice run through into a 

 tub, or receiver, underneath. Press used 

 by joiners, to keep close the pieces they 

 have glued, especially panels, &c. of 

 wainscot, is very simple, consisting of tour 

 members, viz. two screws, and two pieces 

 of wood, four or five inches square, and 

 two or three feet long; whereot the holes 

 at the two ends serve for nuts to the 

 screws. Press, used by inlayers, resem- 

 bles the joiner's press, except that the 

 pieces of wood are thicker, and that, only 

 one of them is moveable ; the" other, which 

 is in form of a tressel, being sustained by 

 two legs or pillars, jointed into it at each, 

 end. This press serves them for sawing 

 and cleaving the pieces of wood required 

 in marquetry or inlaid work. Founder's 

 Press is a strong square frame, consisting 

 of four pieces of wood, firmly jointed to- 

 gether with tenons, &c. This press is of 

 various sizes, according to the sizes of the 

 mould ; two of them are required to eacli 

 mould, at the two extremes whereof they 

 are placed; so as that, by driving wooden 

 wedges between the mould and the sides 

 of the presses, the two parts of the mould 

 wherein the metal is to be run, may be 

 pressed close together Rolling Press is 

 a machine used for the taking off prints 

 from copper-plates. It is much less com- 

 plex than that of the Letter-Printers. 



PHESS, in Coining, is one of the ma- 

 chines used in striking of? money; differ- 

 ing from the balance, in that it has only 

 one iron bar to give it motion, and press 

 the moulds or coins ; is not charged with 

 lead at its extreme, nor drawn by cord- 

 age. See COINING. 



PRESS, Binder's Cutting, is a machine 

 used equally by book-binders, stationers, 

 and paste-board makers; consisting of 

 two large pieces of wood, in form of 

 cheeks, connected by two strong wooden 

 screws ; which, being turned by an iron 

 bar, draw together, or set asunder, the 

 cheeks, as much as is necessary for the 

 putting in the books or paper to be cut. 

 The cheeks are placed lengthwise on a 

 wooden stand, in the form of a chest, into 

 which the cuttings fall. Aside of the 

 cheeks are two pieces of wood, of the 

 same length with the screws, serving to 



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