Tobacco had nowhere been forbidden in the Bible, but then it had not yet
been discovered, and had probably only escaped proscription for this
reason. We can conceive of St Paul or even our Lord Himself as drinking
a cup of tea, but we cannot imagine either of them as smoking a cigarette
or a churchwarden. Ernest could not deny this, and admitted that Paul
would almost certainly have condemned tobacco in good round terms if he
had known of its existence. Was it not then taking rather a mean
advantage of the Apostle to stand on his not having actually forbidden
it? On the other hand, it was possible that God knew Paul would have
forbidden smoking, and had purposely arranged the discovery of tobacco
for a period at which Paul should be no longer living. This might seem
rather hard on Paul, considering all he had done for Christianity, but it
would be made up to him in other ways.
These reflections satisfied Ernest that on the whole he had better smoke,
so he sneaked to his portmanteau and brought out his pipes and tobacco
again. There should be moderation he felt in all things, even in virtue;
so for that night he smoked immoderately. It was a pity, however, that
he had bragged to Dawson about giving up smoking.
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