Captain Patrick Dove, of S.S. Africa Shell, was captured by the German cruiser, the Graf Spee, on November 15th, 1939. He was a prisoner with other captured British Captains and Ships' Officers on the Girman cruiser, when she was attacked by the British ships, the Exeter, the Ajax, and the Achilles, and driven battered and disabled into the harbor of Monte Video, only to be finally scuttled by her Captain.
We can imagine, perhaps feebly, the feelings of Captain Dove and the rest, imprisoned in a narrow space, unable to see what was happening, hearing the mighty guns fire their deafening salvoes, feeling the very ship tremble under their feet, as shell after shell hit the cruiser. Naturally these Britishers wished for a British victory, but that would almost certainly mean their death like rats caught in a trap. If ever men were in a tight corner these brave men were. What did they do?
Captain Dove writes, " I think that every man there said his prayers. I know I did. Most of us sailors are pretty firm believers, and we certainly needed any comfort we could get at that moment."
The writer would be the last man to condemn them for praying in their terrible extremity. Indeed, God answered their prayers, for whilst the British won the battle, yet the lives of the prisoners were spared, and they obtained their freedom.
The same story was told us by a soldier, who had been in the Dunkirk evacuation. He said it was a moving sight to see scores of young soldiers, who ordinarily were careless, godless, swearing fellows, on their knees on the sandy beaches, with tears coursing down their cheeks, crying to God for deliverance.
But what we plead for is that true vital religion should not be reserved for extra-tight corners. It should govern our whole lives, and we ought not to be ashamed of it.
And further, every sinner, and we are all such, will find himself or herself in a tight corner. Sin has a habit of coming to roost. " The wages of sin is death " (Rom. 6. 23). " It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment " (Heb. 9. 27). Nothing can be more terrible than the death of an unsaved, unforgiven sinner. How terrible to see a soul having neglected his salvation all his life, pass into eternity, where there will be no opportunity to believe the Gospel, doomed and damned. We beg the reader not to reserve his religion for a tight corner. There is something unutterably mean to neglect God and Christ and the Bible and the means of grace in fair weather, and then seek the help of a neglected and flouted God when in a tight corner.
We beseech you to wake up, and now in the days of health and strength turn to the Lord, receive Him as your Savior, and seek grace to testify for Him in everyday life. Then when a tight corner comes you can count on His help and favor.
" If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved " (Rom. 10. 9). Have you confessed the Lord? Have you believed on Him? Do not wait for a tight corner, but even now as you read these lines decide this momentous matter, and come out boldly on the Lord's side.