In honor of CT's fortieth anniversary, this issue's Reflections page is devoted to excerpts from articles appearing in the magazine's first year (Oct. 5, 1956-Sept. 30, 1957).

Preach with Conviction
I think it was Goethe who said, after hearing a young minister, "When I go to hear a preacher preach, I may not agree with what he says, but I want him to believe it." Even a vacillating unbeliever has no respect for the man who lacks the courage to preach what he believes.

-Billy Graham
(#1, Oct. 5, 1956)

The Church's Business
It is surprising how easily we can see the place of the church community in terms of social reform in some directions but not in others. The Church stands usually against liquor and the liquor "interests," that is, the business of liquor. The church community is always against organized vice, against narcotics. In the past the Church as such took a stand against slavery and felt called upon to speak out against child labor even when such speaking hurt profits. We accept these victories over injustice in former days as assumptions of the position of the Church in our own day; it is harder to see in our contemporary scene just what it is that the Church is called upon to do.

-Addison Leitch
(#1, Oct. 15, 1956)

Cool Catacombs
I belong to a mortgage-free church that installed an air-conditioner this summer at a total cost of $10,000 instead of hiring a director of religious education. The most charitable reason [one could give] for the action is that the Board of Trustees wished to restore the atmosphere of the catacombs, which I understand were cool.

-Kermit Eby
(#5, Dec. 10, 1956)

Change of Heart Good will toward all men is a result of the invasion of the super-natural! A state of good intention with "heartiness ...