Note 2 — Chapter VIII
Reading edition
"The parish was the community of the township organised for Church purposes and subject to Church discipline, with a constitution which recognised the rights of the whole body as an aggregate, and the right of every adult member, whether man or woman, to a voice in self-government, but at the same time kept the self-governing community under a system of inspection and restraint by a central authority outside the parish boundaries."—Bishop Hobhouse, Somerset Record Society, Vol. IV.