Dr. Correa de Serra, who wrote this account, says that a most exact resemblance exists between maritime Flanders and the opposite low coast of England, both in elevation above the sea, and in the internal structure and arrangement of their soil. They contain similar organic remains of marine animals, as well as of tropical plants; and they each have a stratum of decayed trees and compressed vegetable matter below the present level of the sea. He, therefore, concludes that the two countries were once continuous; and instead of supposing that the sea is now higher than formerly, he gives it as his opinion, that this part of the earth’s surface has sunk below its ancient level. That the epoch at which this catastrophe took place, must have been in a very remote age, he thinks may be proved from the sixteen feet bed of soil, which now covers the submerged forest; and because it appears from historical records in the Academy of Brussels, that no change of that kind has happened in Flanders for more than two thousand years.
But the uncovering of the woody stratum in the Sutton islets by the action of the sea, he refers to a comparatively recent date. The people have a tradition that their parish church once stood on the spot where those islets are now; and it is very probable that before the skilful embankments were made which at present restrain the stormy inundations of the North Sea, the soil was gradually washed away by the waves, and the trees were thus left exposed.
When we had done reading the above, my uncle told us that he had himself visited the little hamlet of Sutton. The tides unfortunately were not low enough to expose the islets, or rather the sandbanks, which the Doctor mentions; but he saw a great number of the stumps and roots of the trees, which the country people had obtained at favourable opportunities. One fine oak stem had just been drawn on shore: it measured forty feet in length, and five feet in circumference; and the wood, though rather soft on the outside, was sound within, though all black. He cut off a few chips with his knife, and was so good as to give me one of them. So, mamma, if the stratum of earth which now covers this submarine forest was deposited there by the deluge, it is clear that the tree my uncle saw was antediluvian; and that the oak chip in my possession was of the same growth of timber as that of which the Ark was constructed.
16th, Sunday.—A question, that Wentworth asked, about the object and meaning of the prophecies contained in Deuteronomy, led to some observations of my uncle’s, which I will endeavour to give you.
“The prophecies of Moses increase in number and clearness towards the close of his writings. He appears to have discerned futurity with more exactness as he approached the end of his life. To be convinced of this, you have only to compare the records of history with his prediction of the successes as well as the dispersions and desolations of the Israelites; compare the rapid victories of the Romans, and the miseries sustained by his besieged countrymen, with his denunciations; and particularly compare his prophecies relative to the future condition of the Jewish nation, with their accomplishment which is still going on under your own observation, and which, indeed, may be called a standing miracle.”
“But are we certain that some of these distant prophecies have not been added in later times?” Wentworth said.
“I am glad that you have made that enquiry,” replied my uncle, “because it gives me an opportunity of shewing you how impossible it is that any such addition could have been made to the Pentateuch. In the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy are these words: ‘Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it.’
“This prohibition preserved these books from the slightest alteration; for it was considered so binding, that no copies were allowed to be made by any persons but the Scribes attached to the synagogue; and as the Jews were commanded to read portions of them every Sabbath day in their families, and as at certain times the whole ‘law’ was publicly read to the congregation, it is evident that any alteration must have been noticed. There is a remarkable proof of the fidelity with which that injunction was obeyed, in this fact; that the Samaritans have preserved the law of Moses to this day, as uncorrupted as the Jews themselves have done; although they were irreconcileable enemies, and though they have been exposed to all the changes and revolutions that can befall a nation during the long interval of two thousand four hundred years. No opportunity could have been more tempting than when the ten tribes separated from the house of David, and when each kingdom was zealously supported by a rival priesthood; yet both parties religiously preserved the books of the law, without changing a letter.
“From the Christian era down to this day, the Jews, though dispersed into every country of the globe, continue to read the books of Moses and the Prophets every Sabbath day, in the original Hebrew; and, however they may differ from us, or among themselves, in the interpretation of various expressions, they have always considered the strict preservation of the original text as the most important of their duties. Those books have now been translated into so many languages, and cited by so many authors, and have been the subject of so much discussion from the times of the Apostles, that it is absolutely impossible that any fraudulent change can have taken place since that period. I may add, that the books of the Old Testament were translated into Greek by the command of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about three centuries and a half before that period; and they have therefore been for upwards of two thousand years in the hands of heathens and sceptics, who would have been eager to detect any alteration that might have been attempted.
“It is, indeed, a most striking circumstance, that notwithstanding the many corruptions which the Israelites fell into while they had the sole custody of these books, no omissions should have been made in the copies, nor any attempts to suppress those parts of the law which bore directly on their misconduct; and I think we may safely infer, that it was the will of Him who had given the law, and who had inspired the prophecies, that they should remain an indestructible ‘memorial to all generations.’”