— Thoughts on Prayer

Thomas Boston

In whose name are we to pray?¹ In the name of Christ: “Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it” (Jn 14:13-14). This is to plead the merits of Jesus Christ. We must come to God in the name of

¹This is the first of two extracts, taken with editing from sermons on prayer to be found in volume 11 of Boston’s Works. The first discourse, as printed, is described as the substance of two sermons preached in Ettrick in 1727 on 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Pray without ceasing”. Rev Roderick Macleod comments that “Boston stresses often and strongly that prayer cannot be acceptable unless it is made in the name of the Lord and Saviour”, which is true in both of these extracts.

Christ, laying all the stress upon His merits. All things go by favour in the court of heaven; the Father hears us for the Son’s sake.

We must, in praying to God, pray for Christ’s sake, as the only procuring cause of the success of our prayers:² “Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant, and His supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake” (Dan 9:17). Going to God in prayer, we must as it were, put off our own persons, as not worth noticing in the sight of God and put on the Lord Jesus Christ; come and receive the blessing in the elder Brother’s clothes, having all our hope from the Lord’s looking on the face of His Anointed. This is the main thing in the text, a relying on the Lord Jesus for the success of our prayers in heaven. . . . Praying to God for Christ’s sake presupposes that:

1. Sinners in themselves are quite unacceptable in heaven, even in their religious duties. Not only is this true of the wicked (Prov 15:8), but even the saints considered in themselves (Is 64:6). The reason is plain. God is holy; we are impure and defiled. There is such a rank smell of sinful pollution about us that the opening of a sinner’s mouth in prayer is like the opening of a grave with a long-buried corpse (Rom 3:13). It is so strong that we cannot sweeten ourselves. The loathsome savour of the sins of the best saints cannot be mastered by any sweet savour of their duties, but only by the sweet savour of the sacrifice of Christ (2 Cor 2:15, with Eph 5:2).

2. Christ is most acceptable there. He is the darling of heaven, the prime favourite there: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). He is acceptable there as God, the only begotten of the Father from eternity; but that is not all. He is acceptable as God-man, Mediator, who has in our flesh fulfilled His Father’s will, by His obedience and death: Christ “hath given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour” (Eph 5:2). And He is acceptable to the Father:

(1.) In Himself (Mt 3:17). The Father is well pleased with His Person, and delights in Him, as the brightness of His own glory, and His own express image. He is well pleased with Christ’s undertaking the work of redemption and His management of that work; He is pleased with Christ’s holy birth, righteous life, and complete satisfaction; so pleased with His humbling Himself that God “hath highly exalted Him” (Phil 2:9).

(2.) The Father is so well pleased with Christ, that He accepts sinners for His sake: “He hath made us accepted in the Beloved”. For His sake rebel sinners are accepted to peace and favour; criminals to eternal life; their per-

²Boston returns to this doctrine of prayer later, in a discourse from which this is an extract, where he gives the substance of some sermons preached in Ettrick in 1728, on John 16:23: “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you”.

formances, mixed with much sinful imperfection, are accepted as pleasing in His sight. The sweet smell of His sacrifice so masters the rank savour of sin about them, that they are for His sake brought into His presence and brought near. The Father does not refuse Him any request: “I knew that Thou hearest Me always” (Jn 11:42).

(3.) Sinners are warranted to come to the throne of grace in His name: “We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:15-16). It is sinners of mankind, not of the angels: “Verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham” (Heb 2:16). Whatever our case is, He will act for us to the uttermost (Heb 7:25). He is an Advocate that will take our most desperate causes in hand, carry them through – in a way agreeable to justice: “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 Jn 2:1). The petitions put into His hand cannot miscarry.