COLD FEET AND CONVERSION.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3186, 14 September 1881, Page 4

COLD FEET AND CONVERSION.

" Civis "in the Otago Witness says:— One doesn't ordinarily go to a religious newspaper for amusoment, yet_ you sometimes stumble tipon a good thing there, — an unintended good thing, of course. The Sydney Presbyterian begins an editorial by remarking, " There is a saying to tho effect that no one was ever converted who had cold feet." One would suppose that ao irreverent a " saying " must have emanated from the seat of the scorner, but it is not so. The Presbyterian continues: "Whether the saying be Spurgoon's or some one else's, it matters not; it contains a great truth that is too often forgotten." The editor does not intend a joke, for he proceeds to insist on the necessity of having churches "artificially heated " in order to promote conversion. Now this dependence of conversion upon the warmth of the lower extremities strikes me as one of the most surprising physiological facts that I have ever encountered. "No one was ever converted who had cold feet!" Why not ? Is there some peculiar depravity or hardness of heart associated with cold feet ? If so, the fact throws light on the mysterious saying attributed to the cook at the Electrobiology lecture. When the professor had put her under "tho influence" she was heard to murmur gently, " coachman take your cold feet away!" It will be seen that on the theory of the Presbyterian the condition of the coachman's feet was quite in agreement with the apparent looseness of his morals. If this view of the wickedness of cold feet gains acceptance, it will become a religious duty in this climate to wear strong boots and cork soles. Hot bottles at the foot of the bed ought to be reckoned a wise winter precaution against temptation, and such questions as, Are your toes cold ? and, How's your poor feet? will be equivalent to inquiring after the state of your soul. If these remarks of mine are regarded as irreverent they will be taken in a wrong light. The incompatibility of cold feet and conversion, says the Sydney Presbyterian, is " a great truth," a truth moreover, which is "too often forgotten." Under these circumstances I think I ought to be thanked for calling attention to it, especially at this time of the year, when cold feet are far from uncommon.