Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

We do not remove the ranking among ministers of the church; rather, we retain the distinction between bishop, priest, and deacons.  By no means do we, however, establish the sort of difference of power and the sort of distinction the Papists want... The fact that bishops are set above presbyters in the church happens "out of a human institution after the times of the apostles to remove schisms" as Jerome teaches (Commentary on Titus 1). -- Blessed Johann Gerhard, On the Church, p. 407