There was a time.

[Blueridge Believer]

There was a time when I lived in the strong old
castle of my sins, and rested in my works.
There came a trumpeter to the door, and bade me open it.
I with anger chide him from the porch, and said he never
should enter.

Then there came a goodly personage, with loving
countenance; his hands were marked with scars, where
nails were driven, and his feet had nail-prints too.

He lifted up his cross, using it as a hammer--
at the first blow the gate of my prejudice shook;
at the second it trembled more;
at the third down it fell,
and in he came.

And he said, "Arise, and stand upon your feet,
for I have loved you with an everlasting love."

"His free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Has won my affection, and held my soul fast."

Spurgeon, from his sermon, "Christ Crucified"