"For close upon forty years I have been writing with one purpose; fromtime to time, I have fought for that which seemed to me the truth,perhaps still more, against that which I have thought error; and, inthis way, I have reached, indeed over-stepped, the threshold of oldage. There, every earnest man has to listen to the voice within: 'Givean account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward.'
"That I have been an unjust steward my conscience does not bearwitness. At times blundering, at times negligent, Heaven knows: but,on the whole, I have done that which I felt able and called upon todo; and I have done it without looking to the right or to the left;seeking no man's favor, fearing no man's disfavor.
"But what is it that I have been doing? In the end one's conceptionsshould form a whole, though only parts may have found utterance, asoccasion arose; now do these exhibit harmony and mutual connexion? Inone's zeal much of the old gets broken to pieces; but has one madeready something new, fit to be set in the place of the old?
"That they merely destroy without reconstructing, is the especialcharge, with which those who work in this direction are constantlyreproached. In a certain sense I do not defend myself against thecharge; but I deny that any reproach is deserved.
"I have never proposed to myself to begin outward construction;because I do not believe that the time has come for it. Our