"Be you well, John?"
"Yes, Papa, my finger pinched under the awl"
"Give God the glory, and be ye thankful thy finger still sits upon thy hand"
"Yes, Papa."
It is 1651, Boston, Massachusetts. Thomas Butolf is working with his son, John, in the leatherworking shop owned by Thomas. Thomas carefully and patiently instructs John in the making of fine leather goods for gentlemen; the goat leather is imported from Cordoba, Spain, and is rather fragile so great care must be taken not to bruise the fine goatskin. John takes the instruction well and is on his way to become an excellent cordwainer himself, at 13 years of age, John is taking on the responsibilities of a man and expected to take over the family business in a few short years, should he decide to follow his father in this venture. John has many options to explore at this point; his uncles, John Greene and Robert Harding, each own several ships, and trade goods in several ports in the New World as well as overseas in places such as London, the West Indies, the northern areas for seal skins, and occasionally China, for fine silks and exotic teas. And, of course, Cordoba, Spain, for the luxuious goat leathers for Papa's business.
But for now, John is concentrating on cutting the leather carefully to match the pattern for the gloves being made for the Rev. Mr. Cotton. John also has many questions and between cuttings is a good time to ask Papa.
"Papa, eve of last, Grandmama wept as she sewed upon her garment, why be she sad now?"
"Word has come us from London, Grandmama's brother, William, died in the Tower of a fever, awaiting the axe"
"Papa, why had Great-Uncle William not come to the New World with us?"
"William besought to persuade King Charles of purging the Church of England of the foul corruption amid the church fathers and the crown, but to his misfurtune, our cousin, Thomas Butolf, the king's Chaplain, gave more loyalty to his master than to his cousin, betraying him to Lord Chancellor"
"Papa, need we fear King Charles?"
"Nay, my son, for the moment we live free in this wilderness land, but our safety and salvation lay in Almighty God, and our worship of the self-same Person, Jesus Christ, Who is the very breath of our being. We will speak further upon this subject when the pieces are sewn. For now, give God the glory, and work thy hands in manner pleasing our Savior."

This scene was taken from facts in the original records and writings of New England, except for Uncle William, who represented many who sought to purify the church in England, and many who lost their lives for desiring to worship God as they thought honoring to God, and not to the forced and ritualistic manner of the church, which had become a mere political organization. A Thomas Butolf(Buttolph) was a Chaplain to King Charles at this time, but relation to our Thomas Butolf is not known at this time.

Other commssions

Many Christians believe the Great Commission is the main responsibility of the Church, and that all other callings are so far from importance as to hardy be worth a mention, such as to be involved in government, invironmental issues, and the like.
I am still working on just what the genealogy project is all about, and it's purpose, but I do believe, from historical research and Biblical study, that the Church is indeed to maintain righteousness in a society. How many times have we heard someone say they didn't want to be involved in politics because it was such a dirty profession? Or God's kingdoms not of this world so we shouldn't be either. But Scripture says to be in the world, just not of it, to not take on the values of the world. How are we to be salt and light to the world if we don't go out and be involved; rub shoulders with those who are lost as we were at one time; cry and laugh with those who are as we were before Jesus showed His mercy in our lives? Jesus said to let our good works be seen so as to glorify God, but not to give show of good works for our own pride. Scripture says to do good when it is in our power to do it, so how can we sit by and continue to let abortion happen when we have the numbers to demand Washington stop Roe v Wade, and other criminal behavior against innocence? Scripture is adamant and profuse in demanding the protection of the innocent, and curses on those who harm the innocent?
When we let teachers read and interpret scripture for us and not read it ourselves as we commune with Jesus, we miss a tremendous amount of teaching directly from the Holy Spirit, and He does teach us, 1 John 2:27.
We are under a new covenant with Jesus Christ, and not under the law but still required to abide by it in our conduct; the Old Testament is still for our instruction and Daniel, Joseph, David, and more were put in positions of power for the ultimate purpose of spreading God's Word to other nations. What better place to spread the Word of God, to do good works, and glorify God in those good works than in the "dirty" political arena??
Is everyone called to this? Of course not, but it is very clear we are to be involved in maintaining righteousness in our nation because God has said in the New Testement no less than three times to obey the government, and in our form of government "we the people" ARE the government.
With this in mind please listen to this 2-3 minute message by Chuck Colson.