[OLD REGGIE]

Since there is no such thing as a sacerdotal order in protestatism, it doesn't matter.

Really???? Do you wish to rethink this "fact"?

[RobbyS]

It follows from the Lutheran notion of the priesthood of all believers that the organization of a congregation will follow the existing social order. If the social order is hierarchic, the church will be hierarchic. Hence in Puritan Massachusetts, "gentlemen" ran the Church, and Anne Hutchison--who claimed special powers--was run out of town. In modern America , she could have set up her own "Temple" in Boston.