11. But the fact that he has not walked in the
counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the
seat of pestilence, does not constitute the perfection of the
man’s happiness. For the belief that one God is the Creator
of the world, the avoidance of sin by the pursuit of unassuming
goodness, the preference of the tranquil leisure of private life to the
grandeur of public position—all this may be found even in a
pagan. But here the
Prophet, in portraying in the likeness of God the man that is
perfect—one who may serve as a noble example of eternal
happiness—points to the exercise by him of no commonplace
virtues, and to the words, But his will hath been in the Law of the
Lord, for the attainment of perfect happiness. To refrain
from what has gone before is useless unless his mind be set on what
follows, But his will hath been in the Law of the Lord.
The Prophet does not look for fear. The majority of men are kept
within the bounds of Law by fear; the few are brought under the Law by
will: for it is the mark of fear not to dare to omit what it is
afraid of, but of perfect piety to be ready to obey commands.
This is why that man is happy whose will, not whose fear, is in the Law
of God.