O Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, our only Mediator and Redeemer, You have been exalted to the right hand of the Father, and send pastors and teachers of Your Word [Eph. 4:11], by whose work You gather the Church among us unto Yourself. I humbly beg You, who are one true God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, that You guide those Your ministers in the way of truth, and turn the hearts of their hearers to the true obedience of faith. There is no occupation of human life, no class of men, which is so subject to the hatred and plots of Satan as the ecclesiastical ministry of the Word. Protect, therefore, the members of this ministry with the shield of grace, and furnish them with the strength of patience, so that Satan’s traps cannot trip them up.

Grant, I ask, to Your ministers the necessary knowledge and pious diligence in all doings, that they first learn from You before presuming to teach others [Jas. 3:1]. Govern and enlighten their hearts by Your Spirit so that in the place of God they preach nothing other than God’s Word; they shepherd the flock committed unto them [1 Pet. 5:2], purchased and redeemed by Your precious blood [Acts 20:28], out of true and sincere love and not out of covetousness or ambition; they shepherd the flock in thought, word, and deed; they shepherd by the prayer of their soul, by the exhortation of the Word, and by example; so that they follow in the footsteps of the one to whom the care of the Lord’s flock was commended three times [John 21:15]. Rouse them that they keep watch over the souls entrusted to them, since they shall give serious account for them in the severe examination of the last judgment [Heb. 13:17]. Whatever they advise in the preaching of the holy Word, may they first be diligent in this matter in their own lives, lest being sluggish to work themselves, they labor in vain to arouse others. To whatever good works they inflame others, may they themselves first be zealous in these works by the fervor of the Spirit. Before they resound with words of exhortation, may they first proclaim by their works, whatever they are about to speak. (Continued On Transfiguration)  (from The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.81-83)

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)