Complete Records
Journal 2004 12 29
Complete Records
I don’t have the complete journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. I do not have Patrick Gass’ journal. I have many books on the expedition. The standard work being Bernard DeVoto’s edited journals of Lewis and Clark. Sergeant Gass kept a separate journal which in the end was the first published.
The unedited journals include an overwhelming amount of data collection relevant to the mission but cumbersome to the human telling of the journey. Some days, there were no entries. The men were human and like most of us, any diary has days when no entries were recorded.
However, I’m mindful of how in three different recordings by three different authors the tale of the journey emerges in full form. Lewis alone left big holes in his journals. He was faithful to the scientific information, but too many days went by when His mercurial personality would prevent him from lifting his pen to record anything of the day. Lewis was so steady that his recordings would not have brought the richness and life that Lewis was able to breath into his words. And Gass brought the view of one centered in the middle of the human effort required for the work of the mission to be completed.
In total, a record of the Journey is complete and still brings the sense of curiosity that drove the mission, the sense of adventure that fueled it, the work that completed it and the joy and wonder with which the report was received.
However great these recordings are, they are a faint glimmer of a reflection of the Bible. It ought to bring us great hope and inspiration that if we can rely on three faithful witnesses for this recounting of history, we can rely upon the witnesses of the sixty-six books that comprise the books that make up the whole of the Bible.
We are far removed from the times of Job and Moses and Isaiah and Micah and David and Mathew and Mark and Luke and John and Paul. (Pardon the grammar, used it for exaggeration.)
However, there is a divine joining of their lives and the timelines of their lives and writing. The old books of the Bible have specific genealogies to record, verify and validate their historical veracity. The are not some fictionalized, exaggerated musings of crazed prophets. They are reliable records.
The journals of the men of the Corps of Discovery are not questioned because they are near us in time and the succession of validation is unquestioned.
The recording of scripture is no different and is elevated far beyond the Lewis and Clark journals by their divine authorship through the hands of men.
When others question, we have history and reason. Stand confident. Truth will prevail.
Complete Records
I don’t have the complete journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. I do not have Patrick Gass’ journal. I have many books on the expedition. The standard work being Bernard DeVoto’s edited journals of Lewis and Clark. Sergeant Gass kept a separate journal which in the end was the first published.
The unedited journals include an overwhelming amount of data collection relevant to the mission but cumbersome to the human telling of the journey. Some days, there were no entries. The men were human and like most of us, any diary has days when no entries were recorded.
However, I’m mindful of how in three different recordings by three different authors the tale of the journey emerges in full form. Lewis alone left big holes in his journals. He was faithful to the scientific information, but too many days went by when His mercurial personality would prevent him from lifting his pen to record anything of the day. Lewis was so steady that his recordings would not have brought the richness and life that Lewis was able to breath into his words. And Gass brought the view of one centered in the middle of the human effort required for the work of the mission to be completed.
In total, a record of the Journey is complete and still brings the sense of curiosity that drove the mission, the sense of adventure that fueled it, the work that completed it and the joy and wonder with which the report was received.
However great these recordings are, they are a faint glimmer of a reflection of the Bible. It ought to bring us great hope and inspiration that if we can rely on three faithful witnesses for this recounting of history, we can rely upon the witnesses of the sixty-six books that comprise the books that make up the whole of the Bible.
We are far removed from the times of Job and Moses and Isaiah and Micah and David and Mathew and Mark and Luke and John and Paul. (Pardon the grammar, used it for exaggeration.)
However, there is a divine joining of their lives and the timelines of their lives and writing. The old books of the Bible have specific genealogies to record, verify and validate their historical veracity. The are not some fictionalized, exaggerated musings of crazed prophets. They are reliable records.
The journals of the men of the Corps of Discovery are not questioned because they are near us in time and the succession of validation is unquestioned.
The recording of scripture is no different and is elevated far beyond the Lewis and Clark journals by their divine authorship through the hands of men.
When others question, we have history and reason. Stand confident. Truth will prevail.
posted by @2007 Dick Cinkovich | 11:47 PM
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