Meditation on the needs of our neighbor has in view the common well-being of Church and Republic. This is the fruit of true and sincere love, which gathers us all into one mystical body under one Head, Christ, and commends to us serious care for the Church as a whole, and for all its members. If a member of the body does not strive, according to its share, to preserve the well-being of the whole bodily structure, or does not suffer when a fellow member is suffering, it is no true member. It is the same with the mystical body of Christ [Col. 1:24, 1 Cor. 12:12 ff]. And therefore, whoever is a true and living member of the Christian Church ought pray daily [Rom. 12:12, Eph. 6:18, Acts 3:1] for the preservation of the Word, for pastors and hearers [Col. 4:2-4, Eph. 3:14-21], for magistrates [1 Tim. 2:2], and those under authority, and for the household. These are the three hierarchies divinely instituted for well-being in this life and for the extension of the heavenly kingdom [1 Tim. 2:1-4, Rom. 13:1-6, Eph. 6:4]. He ought pray also for relatives and benefactors, to whom he is bound by some special tie, and for enemies and persecutors [Mat. 5:44, Rom. 12:14], whose conversion and salvation he ought earnestly desire, and for those afflicted and suffering hardship, whose misfortunes should move his soul. (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.79)