The memory of the just [is] blessed
Men to whom he has been useful, either in temporals or
spirituals, bless him, or wish all blessings to him while alive,
whenever they make mention of his name; and after death they
speak well of him, and pronounce him blessed; for such are had in
everlasting remembrance; the memory of them is sweet and
precious; their name is famous and valuable, and always spoken of
with honour and commendation; see ( Psalms 112:6
) . The Jewish writers take it for a command, and render it, "let
the memory of the just be blessed"; and say, that he that
transgresses it breaks an affirmative precept; they make an
abbreviation of the word by the initial letters, and join them to
the names of their celebrated men;
but the name of the wicked shall rot;
shall be forgotten, be buried in oblivion, and never mentioned:
and though they may call their houses, lands, and cities, by
their own names, in order to transmit their memory to posterity;
yet these, by one means or another, are destroyed, and their
memorials perish with them; see ( Ecclesiastes
8:10 ) ( Psalms 49:11
) ( 9:6 ) ;
and if their names are mentioned after they are gone, it is with
detestation and abhorrence, as things putrefied are abhorred; so
they leave an ill savour behind them, when the good name of the
righteous is as precious ointment, ( Ecclesiastes
7:1 ) . It is a saying of Cicero F1, that
``the life of the dead lies in the memory of the living.''