What Is The Standard?

I exhorted about this at a revival meeting a few weeks ago and was encouraged to put it on my blog....so here goes...

This excerpt is from some of the original instructions to the Deputy Surveyors of the western lands.  circa 1820-1830 

In the original General Land Office surveys, the instructions were as outlined above.  A  "field-standard" half-chain which measured exactly 33' (or a 66' full-chain, depending on the topography of the ground) was carried with a survey crew in addition to the chain that was used day to day.  The field-standard chain was used only to check the length of the chain in everyday use.  Over the course of a few days use, the contact points or surfaces on the chain would wear and cause the chain to lengthen.  On a 33' "half-chain" there are 48 swivel or "shrivels" as Norman Brown calls them.  As you can see above, there are two loops connected by a ring at each "shrivel"...So there are four contact points or wearing surfaces at each "shrivel".

Now for our lesson in Arithmetic

48x4=192 contact surfaces

If each surface wore 1/128 of an inch... 192/128=1.5

For every 33' you would actually be measuring

33' 1½"

No big deal...???


(160 half-chains in a mile) 160*1½"=20'

In a mile of measuring you would be 20 feet TOO LONG!!!  This was unacceptable even in the 1820's!

(Check me on this - I stand to be corrected on my math)

When the chain that was used measured long when compared to the standard chain, a ring was taken out to make the chain to compare with the standard chain.  The standard chain was NOT altered to fit the changes of the "everyday" chain.  I'm sure it was a bother, a pain, a duty etc. to have to do this every morning but it was required by the instructions.  (I have worked in many townships where it was OBVIOUS this was not done.)

At our Surveyors Rendezvous this past December, we compared the two chains that we were going to use, one against the other and then against some "modern" measuring tapes.  I will outline the results below...

Bob Shotts is holding his end of the chains and tapes exactly together...He is assisted by Craig Ruble holding the coffee cup and observer Norman Brown in the foreground

This is one view of the other end of the chains and tapes.  You really can't tell if they are equal or not.

This photo however shows Tim Baer holding the handles of the chains and "Mr. Glove" holding the fiberglass tape.  Even without zooming in you can see the different lengths of all the chains and tape!  Which one did we use as the standard?  The one farthest away, on Tim's right hand matched the fiberglass tape the best, (which is not really all that good since the fiberglass will stretch) so for training purposes, it was used as the standard.

We worked on the other chain to make it match the standard chain better...with our 1820's pliers with the blue rubber handles!

In this photo you can see the brass tally marks on the chain do not match.

So...what is the spiritual application?  The Bible is the "standard" for our lives...not Newsweek, not the Koran, not the Wall Street Journal, not even Sports Illustrated!  We can try to adjust the Bible to fit our lifestyle, our ideas, our dogma's, even our political stance but the Bible remains unchanging and unchangeable!  If you don't agree with it...it's still the standard.  If you think it's old-fashioned...it's still the standard.  If you just "don't see it that way"...It's still the STANDARD!... AND IT WILL ENDURE FOREVER!!! (1 Peter 1:25)  When we stand before the Eternal Judge, we will be judged by the "books" (Rev. 20:12), AKA the Bible.   So... let's get to work on our "chain" and make sure it measures up to Word of God!