"They have their belief, these poor Tibet people, that Providence sends down always an Incarnation of Himself into every generation. At bottom some belief in a kind of Pope! At bottom still better, a belief that there is a Greatest Man; that he is discoverable; that, once discovered, we ought to treat him with an obedience which knows no bounds. This is the truth of Grand Lamaism; the "discoverability" is the only error here."

Source: The Hero as Divinity. Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology. On Heroes by Thomas Carlyle, Chapter 1, ebooks.adelaide.edu.au. 1840.