I 
PRE 
civil and religions liberty, of which the 
dispensing power, and the declaration for 
liberty of conscience, were to be the prin- 
cipal engines. This wise conduct of the 
Dissenters certainly saved the church and 
state. Thus an end was put to the prose- 
cution of the Protestant Dissenters by the 
penal laws; though the laws themselves 
were not legally repealed, or suspended, 
till after the revolution in 1688. From this 
happy period of our English history, the 
condition of the Presbyterians and other 
Dissenters began, gradually to improve. 
William and Mary, who succeeded to the 
throne of England, after the abdication of 
it by James II. were favourable to the 
Protestant religion, and the rights of con- 
science. Notwithstanding the violent op- 
position which William met with from the 
high-church party, who were a numerous 
and powerful body, he succeeded, in many 
points, to soften the rigours, and abate the 
national prejudice against the Dissenters. 
Little else has occurred, since the happy 
era of the revolution, but fruitless attempts 
for a repeal of the corporation and test 
acts. It is to be hoped that the time is not 
far distant, when these, and some other sta- 
tutes of an oppresive nature, will be repealed, 
and Englishmen, of whatever religious per- 
suasion, shall feel and acknowledge, that no 
difference of opinion can divide their in- 
terests as Britons, nor disunite their affec- 
tions as Christians. 
Of the religious tenets of the Presbyte- 
rians it is not necessary to enlarge very 
much. They continue to be one of the 
most numerous and respectable sects of 
Protestant Dissenters in England ; are, 
doubtless, the richest and most learned 
body of men out of the pale of the esta- 
blishment; and have now almost entirely 
forsaken the rigid and severe maxims of 
their forefathers. They are denominated 
Presbyterians from their assertion, that the 
government of the church, as appointed 
in the New Testament, is by Presbyters. 
They acknowledge no head of the church 
but Jesus Christ. According to the ori- 
ginal constitution of the Presbyterian church 
or congregation, they acknowledge the uni- 
ty ahd equality of three persons in tlie God- 
head : but the greater part of the Presby- 
terians, of the present day, are Unitarians, 
either what are opprobriously called Arians 
or Socinians. 
They acknowledge the authority and suf- 
ficiency of the Holy Scriptures to salvation. 
They generally believe that all corruption 
smd depravity is contracted, and not ori- 
PRE - 
ginal. They are, for the most part, Paidoa 
baptists, and admit the sacrament of the 
Lord’s Supper, which Dr. Watts says, “ is 
gating bread and drinking wine in the 
church, in remembrance of the death of 
Christ.” They, in general, reject the doc- 
trine of predestination, and some other 
doctrines intimately connected therewith. 
The belief and practice of the modern En- 
glish Presbyterians are pretty faithfully de- 
scribed in “ An Abstract of a Profession of 
Faith made at a public Ordination at the 
Old Jewry in 1756 ;” and also in some 
“ Questions proposed to tlie Rev. Thomas 
Wright, at his Ordination, May 31, 1759, 
with the Answers thereto.” These papers 
may be seen in the “ History of Religion,” 
published 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 Salter’s 
Hall, London, is still continued on the ori- 
ginal foundation, and is supported by the 
contributions of the friends of Presbyteri- 
anism 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, with- 
out any bill of indictment laid before them 
at the suit of the King, as a presentment 
of a nuisance, a libel, and the like ; upon 
which the officer of the court must after- 
wards frame an indictment, before the 
party presented can be put to answer it. 
There are also presentments by justices of 
the peace, constables, surveyors of the 
highways, churchwardens, &c. 
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 mem- 
bers, 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, serviin 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 holes, 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 four 
members ; viz, two screws, and two pieces 
of wood, four or five inches square, and two 
