The Arcana of Freemasonry (1915) - The Masonic Trowel

18 THE ARCANA OF FREEMASONRY
continents of North and South America have lain
unknown by the great communities of Europe,
Asia, and Africa until the yesterday of Columbus ;
unknown throughout the ages of the vast time
that man has existed? Columbus reached America
less than five centuries ago, and Eric the Red
and his early Norsemen in 983. The Chinese
have written records of trading with America in
500 B.C., and of sending some of their Buddhist
Priests there, who returned with the news that
they had met Priests with religious writings, signs,
and symbols similar to their own, which, you may
see by my " Origin and Evolution of the
Human Race," had been established in America
at least three hundred thousand years before.
Let me also state here that there is no
question of "having one's faith shaken."
What I write and state for all my Brothers
throughout
the world is The Truth. That is
what you want to know; that is what you are
all striving to obtain, and if you follow the evolu-
tion of the human race in all its phases, you will
obtain it, but not otherwise.
I am much indebted to Brother Ham-Smith,
P.G.D. Surrey, for the following. It is quite
interesting, but I do not vouch for the facts having
occurred at the dates as here stated. It is worth
recording, however, and research should be made
to discover the truth if possible :—