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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