Analogy

Passed along to me by a friend, I really enjoyed reading this analogy of someone who is lost and the grip that Satan has on their life--but, how in Christ, the chains of sin can be broken. It is a bit long, but well worth the read.

Terrors of the Deep

1. There he stood upon the flat-top

Of a bobbing boat at sea,

Clothed in helmet, girt with cables,

Soon to leave his comrades three.

With his air hose coupled safely,

And his tools strapped hard and tight,

Burkley fumbled down the ladder

And was quickly out of sight.

2. Down he went into the water,

Sparkling with a greenish glow,

Green to brown and brown to purple,

As he lower sank, and low.

Purple blackened into midnight,

As he slowly downward went;

Bubbles zigzagged, then went gurgling

Back from whence they first were sent.

3. Thud! His heavy shoes found resting:

Many times they’d struck before,

Over rocks and slippery footing

Found upon the ocean floor.

Looked he hard to see the bottom;

Not an object could be seen,

Nothing but a chilly quiver,

All around a blackish green.

4. Moments stood he in the silence,

Like the still before the storm,

Stood until the murky bottom

Yielded up her rugged form.

Then he stepped—the reef was jagged,

Dark with rippling rays and curls—

Closer looked he in each crevice,

In his dangerous hunt for pearls.

5. Eery, ghostly, shrouded shadows,

As his eyes saw more and more,

Played and danced in crazy pattern

On the treacherous ocean floor.

In his mind the diver fancied,

And with every gurgling breath,

Thought that he, as many others,

May in darkness meet his death.

6. For he walked with heavy footsteps

On the home where nature keeps,

Hidden from the light of noonday,

Mighty monsters of the deeps.

Aged men had told him stories

How for them the years had passed;

Finally each, though clothed in iron,

Met the killer fiend at last.

7. Laughed he at the thought of dying

At the mercy of the sea;

Over fish of all descriptions

He had won the victory.

Sharks had hunted him in darkness,

And he’d chased them from his path;

Baring teeth as sharp as needles,

Grinning, leering in their wrath.

8. Now the ocean bed lay spindled—

Eight great ferns that moved and turned

Came to life, as in a moment,

Mud and silt and rocks were churned!

Burkley stopped . . . he saw an image,

Standing? hanging in a place?

And at once he saw the semblance

Of the octopus’s face!

9. Ah, the ancient men were truthful:

Octopi are all the same—

Spitting ink and twisting muscle

Slowly t’ward the diver came.

Now the gap between them narrowed;

Not a nerve in him could sleep,

For he faced the dreaded killer

Divers tell of in the deep.

10. Then he felt that tightening sucker

Slip around and hold him fast,

Tightening, strangling, never slipping,

Making rugged Burkley gasp.

Flashed a hand toward his holster

Where was hung the diver's bliss;

Blade all sharp and long and shiny,

Kept for such a time as this.

11. Lashed he out with lightning fury,

And the aim was keen and well;

Tendon twisting, cut in sunder,

From his shaking body fell.

While the battle was ensuing,

Burkley’s leg was wrapped secure

With another snake-like tendon,

Wrapped in muscle, fast and sure.

12. Then he saw that face more closely

And those eyes that could but stare,

Noticed in that yawning death-trap

Hooks that grew to rip and tear.

Even closer now it drew him

To that edge of certain death;

All those arms and rows of suckers

Took the skilful diver’s breath.

13. Reached he down to free his ankle

From that tightening, vice-like grip,

But the monster sensed his purpose,

Jerked and caused his feet to slip;

Crashed his head against a boulder,

Stunned him, made his senses reel:

Blood came down into his helmet;

Burkley had to grope and feel.

14. Should he yank the upper cable?

Four quick jerks would bring him aid;

Up above his friends were waiting,

But his waving hand was stayed

As another oozing strangler

Laid tight hold upon his wrist.

Burkley swung the faithful missile

Clutched within his other fist.

15. Two were cut and four were fanning,

Waving, seeking for a hold.

One was pulling at his ankle.

(Thoughts of death made Burkley cold.)

Jerked again, he lost his footing;

Strength was failing, failing fast.

Down there in the inky smoke screen,

How much longer could he last?

16. If he jerked the outside cable

And they heard those four loud knocks,

Burkley’s friends may cut his air hose,

Now all tangled in the rocks.

Anchored down there in the darkness

To the bottom of the sea,

Who could help him, who'd deliver,

Set this helpless prisoner free?

17. Down and down the killer dragged him

To his hideout in the deep,

Over jagged, darkened hollows,

Over terrain rough and steep.

Then brave Burkley in his terror,

Down there in that hellish night,

Pulled and gave the diver's signal

To be brought up to the light.

18. Felt his body tug with pressure,

For they pulled with might and main;

Little did they know their comrade

All but fairly came in twain.

Feet held fast upon the bottom

Of that dark forsaken sea,

Pulled by men, his faithful comrades,

Futile, though their strength was three.

19. Finally Burkley lost his senses

Through the pressure of the strain,

Through the agony of thinking,

Through the torture of his pain.

Then the monster’s strength was broken,

And they left that scene of night:

Burkley with a clinging killer

Floated up into the light.

20. Men had bound the diver’s cable,

When their strength did not avail,

To a pin of solid iron

When the boat fell in a valley,

Comrades three clamped on the locks;

And she rose to wrench the killer’s

Vice-like grip upon the rocks.

21. Burkley, limp and red and lifeless,

Red with blood and limp as dead,

Came up bubbling to the surface,

Battered helmet on his head.

To his legs, was he still clinging?

Yes, this killer, strong as life;

At the sight of which a comrade

Whipped in play another knife.

22. A slash or two on coiling tendons,

Splashing, thrashing round their prey,

Freed the helpless. flaccid victim

From the terror of its sway.

Laid they Burkley on the flat-top,

Stripped him of his reddened grill;

Face was white, but eyelids fluttered,

So his life was in him still.

23. Burkley then was told the story,

How the bow went dipping down,

And they lashed his sturdy cable

To a pin and wrapped it round.

When they rose upon the waters,

All the octopus’s pride

Turned to weakness and to folly

As he felt his grippers slide.

24. Burkley typifies the sinner

In the clutches of the foe,

On the blackness of the sea floor,

Just how black all sinners know.

Held by lust and self-ambition,

Held by pride and tendons long;

Anchored to a grave in darkness

By an enemy so strong.

25. What can break sin’s fearful power

In the heart of sinful man?

None of man’s own works or weapons

Ever could or ever can.

God alone can send the power

And its source is from above,

Coming from His throne of glory,

Coming from His heart of love:

26. Saw the helpless sinner striving

Hard to cut his members free,

Milling in the mud of passion,

On the floor of life's dark sea—

Fighting with a fearful monster,

Dragging him to certain death,

Strangling, clutching at his air-hose,

Stifling all his upper breath.

27. God revealed the great Deliverer,

Who alone can set men free,

Sever cords of sin’s dark power,

Holding, hugging you and me.

Up He brought us from the dungeon,

From the darkest, blackest night,

From the gloom of sin’s dominion,

Into God’s own glorious light.

28. Sinner caught; you must admit it,

Bound both hand and foot by chain:

Dead in sin and all uncleanness,

Christ can make you live again.

Send the message to the surface,

“Helpless now, I cry to Thee!

Help me, Lord, my heart is calling

For Thy Blood to set me free.”

29. Presently all Satan’s power,

Though he hold the vice of steel,

Must give way to Christ the Victor,

As the upper lift you feel.

Ah, my sinner friend, this moment,

Bow your head and cease, I say,

From your own weak, feeble efforts,

For there is no other way.