Our praying for the church gives us a share in all the church's prayers; we have a venture in every ship of prayer that makes a voyage for heaven, if our hearts be willing to pray for the church; and if not, we have no share in it. Let no man flatter himself: they that pray not for the church of God love not the church of God. Let them prosper that love thee; that is, that pray for thee, the one is the counterpart of the other. If we do not love it, we will not pray for it; and if we do not pray for it, we do not love it. Yea, if we pray not for the church, we lose our share in the prayers of the church. You will say that man hath a great estate that hath a part in every ship at sea; and yet to have an adventure in all the prayers that are made to heaven is better than all the world. All the church's prayers are for all the living members of it, viz.—the blessings will be to them, for a man to have a venture in every ship of prayer of all the churches throughout all the world. I would not (for my part) leave my share in it for all the world; and that man hath no share in it that will not afford a prayer for the church.
John Stoughton, 1640, quoted in Charles Spurgeon's The Treasury of David, on Psalm 122:6
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