Dorothy L. Sayers on The Value of Work

Dorothy L. Sayers was not only a writer of detective fiction, but she wrote religious plays as well. The following excerpt was from her first religious play. It concerned the principle she kept defending her whole life that the quality of the work reflects the value of the worker. Thus, Christ's work that manifests His wisdom the most is the finished and perfected Bride of Christ, the church.

Zeal of Thy House
Let me lie deep in hell,
Death gnaw upon me, purge my bones with fire,
But let my work, all that was good in me,
All that was God, stand up and live and grow.
The work is sound, Lord God, no rottenness there –
Only in me. Wipe out my name from men
But not my work; to other men the glory
And to Thy Name alone. But if to the damned
Be any mercy at all, O send Thy spirit
To blow apart the sundering flames, that I
After a thousand years of hell, may catch
One glimpse, one only, of the Church of Christ,
The perfect work, finished, though not by me.
(p. 163, Dorothy L. Sayers by Brabazon)