One day a dear friend of C.H. Spurgeon’s stopped by the renowned pastor’s house for a visit. The atmosphere of the house was as dense as the London fog. I’m sure the smog and the open windows had something to do with it, but this was mostly because C.H. Spurgeon, believe it or not, was a smoker. In fact, he was smoking all during his conversation with his friend. His friend got really agitated. “Charles, You MUST STOP SMOKING! You’re the pastor of the most prominent church in England; what would the world think of you if they knew you smoke!?” Spurgeon removed his half-gone cigar and said, “My dear friend, you have made a very good point. I will stop smoking if I ever begin to do it in excess.” His friend asked how much an excess was. With a twinkle in his eye Spurgeon responded: “Smoking two cigars simultaneously.”
He weighed 350 pounds and died of gout and congestion at 57, so his notion of the body as a temple of the Spirit was apparently somewhat eccentric.
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