[2084] Nöldeke, Sketches from Eastern History (Eng. tr.), p. 25 ff.
[2085] A creed usually contains also an affirmation of the authority of the book on which it is based. Some religious bodies do not regard any book as absolutely authoritative, and their creeds are merely expressions of their independent religious beliefs.
[2086] So among the Egyptians, Hebrews, Hindus, Greeks, Romans, and others.
[2087] Cf. Sabatier, Authority in Religion (Eng. tr.), and the bibliography therein given.
[2088] The contention that a given religion must triumph because it is divine and its triumph is divinely predicted introduces a discussion that cannot be gone into here, where the object is to consider existing facts.
[2089] Babism (or Bahaism) also claims to be universal, but its origin is so recent that this claim cannot be tested.
[2090] Rhys Davids, Buddhism.
[2091] It has been professed by a few persons in Europe and America, but the so-called "theosophy" is not Buddhism. On supposed points of contact between the New Testament and Buddhism cf. C. F. Aiken, The Dhamma of Gotama the Buddha and the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.
[2092] T. W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam.
[2093] See Tiele, article "Religion" in Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., and cf. his Elements of the Science of Religion, i, 28 ff.; R. de la Grasserie, Des religions comparées au point de vue sociologique; M. Jastrow, The Study of Religion, pp. 58 ff.; article "Religion" in Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed.