Granite may be ground and be broken into pieces, but unless God gets the hammer in his hand, and even he must put both hands to it, the great 'granite heart' of man will not yield in any way. No, even the fires of hell do not melt man's heart, for the damned in hell grow more hard by their agonies, and they hate God, and blaspheme him all the more because of the suffering they endure. Only Omnipotence itself, I say, can ever soften this hard heart of man. Lord, melt my heart. If there is anything you would not give up for God it is your idol.
Conversion means a turning from every idol.
Before conversion man seeks to cover himself with his own fig-leaves, and to make himself whole by his duties. He is apt to trust in himself, and set up his own righteousness, and to reckon his counters for gold, and not to submit to the righteousness of God. He casts it off, as a man would the venomous tatters of a nasty beggar. A saved man may reckon his age from the time in which he first knew the Lord. It sheds another light on all the years that have gone by since he has lived in sin.