Is Shakespeare right in his statement that "The evil that men do
lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones"? Why
do men as a rule idealize the dead? Does the primitive tendency to
ancestor worship in part explain this? Is the tendency to idealize
the men of the past beneficial in its effect upon the race? What
would be the effect if all the iniquity of the past were
remembered? The tendency to idealize national heroes is by no
means confined to the Hebrews. Greek, Roman and English history
abounds in illustrations. Cite some of the more striking. Why are
they often thought of as descendants of the gods? Compare the
popular conception of the first president of the United States and
his character as portrayed in Ford's "The Real George Washington."
The portraits of national heroes, even though they are idealized,
exert a powerful and wholesome influence upon the nations who honor
their memory. The noblest ideals in each succeeding generation are
often thus concretely embodied in the character of some national
hero. Compare the great heroes of Greek mythology with the early
heroes of the Old Testament. Do these differences correspond to
the distinctive characteristics of the Greeks and the Hebrews? Are
these differences due to the peculiar genius of each race or in
part to the influence exerted by the ideals thus concretely
presented upon each succeeding generation? Is it probable that in
the character of Abraham the traditional father of the Hebrew race
was idealized? Is it possible that teachers of Israel, consciously
or unconsciously, fostered this tendency that they might in this
concrete and effective way impress their great teachings upon their
race? If so, does it decrease or enhance the value and authority
of these stories?