There is both pleasure and advantage in work well done. The skill a workman displays in doing his work not only calls out praise and reward, but it also advances his usefulness in society and promotes the cause or profession which he represents, rather than himself. Great as is the economic value of proficient workmanship, it has even greater ethical value. The mental stimulus and moral courage which the example of an efficient, skilful workman inspires, are great. It is wholesome.
Looking at the incompetent worker, we find that his pathway is strewn with failure and its accompanying results, — discord, faultfinding, anger, personal encounter, alienation from his fellow workers, division. Beset by such an array of difficulties, there is waste and loss in every direction, the final outcome of which too often is extreme embarrassment, shame, and discouragement. There can be no doubt that constantly recurring mistakes lead to moral and financial failures. Faulty workmanship is not wholesome. It serves only to point to a need. Paul's words as to this are well worth remembering: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed."
The practice of divine metaphysics shows no exception to the rule. Here as elsewhere true workmanship, accuracy, and skill count, while poor workmanship is always a disability. Here, too, work must be measured by its quality more than by its quantity. If every good deed were to be offset by an evil one, every skilful act by a mistaken act, on which side will the balance rest when the account is rendered? It is quality, it is skill, the uniform absence of mistakes that counts! The good one does is correspondingly determined. The fact that one is showing some skill in doing good is not all that need be considered when making up the account, if it also appears that there is an aftermath of evil effects due to mistakes.
