THE WAY

I-Introduction

It is as natural for a boy to pray as to play ball. He does not usually take kindly to prescribed studies; he is of opinion that what he is pleased to call his mind should be left to develop itself as it may. But a boy realizes the nearness of God as few older people do. He is trustful and confiding and is by nature quite ready to hold communion with his great Friend. Unfortunately, he is usually given little opportunity to learn the art of communicating with God. His lessons are drilled into him. He is coached to play games. He is, perhaps, taught a prayer or two in early childhood. Such prayers at first answer his needs. Then he outgrows them and their repetition becomes mechanical. Before long he gives them up altogether. This has been the history of thousands of lives.

Now the fact is that prayer is by far the greatest force that is put at a boy's disposal. Even if he is strong enough to come out for the hammer and shot, his physical strength is weakness compared to the spiritual

power that prayer will give him. Even if he leads his class in mathematics and the languages, his mind will never begin to be as serviceable to him as will a character built up by prayer.

Why is this? Simply because the storehouse from which he draws his physical and mental strength contains only a definite and relatively small supply. But prayer involves the drawing of strength from God, who is an inexhaustible reservoir of power.

St. Paul understood this. "I can do all things," he said, "through Christ that strengtheneth me." He meant that he could do, through the strength that comes from communion with Our Lord, everything in life that is necessary to the development of a perfect character and to the attainment of happiness here and hereafter. A boy knows perfectly well that such a power is worth having. This little book is intended to help boys to develop their natural capacity for holding communion with God. In what has just been said the word "prayer" is used in its widest sense. Familiar and informal but reverent talking with God; the praying of prayers at fixed times; joining in the services of the Church; actually receiving Our Lord in the Holy Communion all these topics fall within the scope of the work.

The book is not intended for prigs or milk-sops. It is meant for the kind of boy who comes out for the team

and who means to make an honorable place for himself in his school or college.

The book does not assume that a boy holds views of life which boys do not in fact hold. It is written, so the author ventures to hope, in language which a boy of thirteen or fourteen can understand, and in terms which answer to facts of his own experience.

The author was a boy once. He cherishes the secret belief that he is a boy still. At all events, he has a deep affection for the race, and he is eager to see the establishment of frank but reverent intercourse between them and Him who has chosen them to be His friends.