These words were popularized by the recent movie, ‘V for Vendetta,’ but what most Americans might not realize, is the poem from which it stems, has been recited by Britons each year, for the past four centuries. Since 1606, those in the United Kingdom have celebrated ‘Guy Fawkes Night,’ every November 5th. But what exactly is this strange celebration all about? Why burn Guy Fawkes in effigy as fireworks cascade over the night sky? Who was behind the foiled plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament and assassinate King James, at the dawn of the 17th century? What lasting impact does such an event have on our society today? Join Carl now, to find out…
Here is a complete transcript of the podcast…(below)
“Remember, remember! The fifth of November, the Gunpowder treason and plot; I know of no reason why the Gunpowder treason, should ever be forgot! Guy Fawkes and his companions, did the scheme contrive, to blow the King and Parliament All up alive.
Threescore barrels, laid below, to prove old England’s overthrow. But, by God’s providence, him they catch, with a dark lantern, lighting a match! A stick and a stake For King James’s sake! If you won’t give me one, I’ll take two, the better for me, and the worse for you. A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope.
A penn’orth of cheese to choke him, a pint of beer to wash it down, and a jolly good fire to burn him! Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring! Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King! Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!”
Perhaps most widely known in America from its use in the movie V for Vendetta, versions of this poem, have in fact, been widespread throughout England for the past four centuries. Few realize just how important its contents are and I’m sure you noticed King James was mentioned. Yes, that very same king whose name is embossed on bibles throughout the land. In a nutshell this poem describes the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, led by Robert Catesby, who were zealous Roman Catholics enraged at King James I of England, formerly James the VI of Scotland, for refusing to grant greater religious tolerance to Catholics, at least that’s the way the Encyclopedia Britannica puts it. They planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament during the state opening of Parliament, intending to kill the king and its members, to clear the way for reestablishing Catholic rule in England. The plan failed thank God, when the conspirators were betrayed. One of them, Guy Fawkes, was taken into custody the evening before the attack, in the cellar where the explosives were stashed. The other conspirators were all either killed resisting capture or tried, convicted, and executed, like Fawkes. In the aftermath, Parliament declared November 5th, a National Day of Thanksgiving, and the first celebration of it took place the following year, in 1606.
Friend, the poem I just read is chocked full of history that we shall soon explore. As a child, I remember, during the dark autumn nights as the cold set in, watching Guy Fawkes burn in effigy atop a bonfire, with embers rising and children’s faces grinning, thinking, why on earth has my father dragged me out here, to watch a scarecrow with pointy hat, burn to cinder, at this late hour? To an eight-year-old, it was a lot of fun, and a bit confusing, all at the same time. This tradition of burning Guy Fakes every November 5th, grew a bit comical as one got older, yet the community’s passion to burn the scoundrel, never waned. Indeed, it is etched into the psyche of most Brits and eagerly anticipated each year.
Topped off with fireworks, and maybe some toffee apple’s, it was a great night out. Fireworks of course, are a major component of every Guy Fawkes Day celebration, representing the explosives that were never used by the plotters. In fact, guards perform an annual search of the Parliament building to check for potential arsonists, in case someone replicates Guy Fawkes, although these searches are more ceremonial than serious. And it must be said that during the 16th and 17th centuries, England was still in the clutches of Rome. England was always the jewel Rome desired but could never quite get its hands on. When puritanism rose up, which was a form of separation from the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the church of England, which was in bed with Rome at the time, God used these men to begin a fresh move of His Spirit. It was during this time, certain segments of separation were fostered, including the Levelers, the Diggers, the Fifth Monarchy men and finally the most famous of all, the Quakers. During Queen Elizabeth’s reign, she fought and overcame Jesuit influence particularly from Spain defeating the Spanish armada, of course. During the latter half of the 16th century, the attack on England was twofold, the overt Romish attack came from Spain, the covert attack, from Jesuits whose allegiance was the Pope. This contest served as the backdrop for the reign of King James the 1st as we shall soon see.
The light of the English Bible, in the seventh and final revision of English translations, which is the King James, published in 1611, exposed what Queen Elizabeth I called, “the darkness and filth of popery” and the “Babylonical Beast of Rome.” It was from the time of Queen Elizabeth Ist, that Britain began to be called “great,” because the small island honored God’s Word, whilst quenching the foul stench of Romanism and ridding its minions (aka the Jesuits), from its shores. Queen Elizabeth was the daughter of Anne Boleyn, who was a staunch believer in Christ and I believe ultimately, she was beheaded in part, for her faith. Henry VIII, Elizabeth’s Father, was capricious, subject to mood swings, variant, inconsistent in his policies, yet he finally severed ties with the Holy Mother Church, by seeking to annul his marriage from Catherine of Aragon, who had incidentally, sired one living female heir, after five of her children sadly died. Pope Clement VII refused the annulment, and Henry waged war on the Catholic church by closing every monastery in England and confiscating all their property. But Henry wasn’t a bible believing Christian as we would classify, he simply despised the Pope rather than being ruled in his heart, by Christ.
Now we must not forget, two years prior to this assassination attempt by Guy Fawkes, King James had commissioned the publication of the King James Bible in 1603. King James, the Son of Mary Queen of Scots, aka ‘bloody Mary,’ killed thousands of Protestants in just five short years. Mary’s allegiance was with the Pope and of course each sovereign’s allegiance, swayed back and forth during this time, whether to England or Rome. Then King James Son, Charles I was the infamous king who was beheaded in 1685, because he instigated in the divine right of kings, believing to be above the law, but I digress. Oliver Cromwell, ultimately, won the English Civil War and Charles I’s obstinate refusal to submit to God’s law, ultimately saw him lose his life. But let us now get to the actual gunpowder plot and the people involved.
To show the hatred of the Roman Catholic Church against King James for initiating a translation in 1603, which would not use their corrupt Latin Vulgate or Jesuit Bible of 1582, we must quote from Gustavus Paine’s book, The Men Behind the King James Version. The account recorded took place in 1605 and 1606 and I quote, “The story is too involved to give detail here, but on October 26th, the Lord Chamberlain Monteagle, received an unsigned letter begging him to stay away from Parliament on the day it opened. He took the letter to Robert Cecil, who on November 1st showed it to the king at a midnight meeting. The King shrewdly surmised a good deal of what it meant. On Monday, November 4th, an agent of the royal party found in a cellar beneath the House of Lords, a man named Guy Fawkes, disguised as a servant, beside piles of faggots, billets of wood, and masses of coal. The agent went away. Shortly Monteagle and one other came and talked, but gave no heed to Fawkes, who was still on guard until they were about to go. He told them he was a servant of Thomas Percy, a well-known papist.
Still later, at midnight, soldiers found Fawkes booted and spurred and with a lantern outside the cellar door. He had taken few pains to conceal his actions. They dragged him into an alley, searched him, and found on him a tinderbox and a length of slow match. In a fury now, they moved the faggots, billets and coal and came upon barrel after barrel of powder, thirty-six barrels in all. Fawkes then confessed that he meant to blow up the House of Lords and the king. On November 6th, Percy, with others, rushed into an Inn at Dunchurch, Warwickshire, with the news that the court was aware of their plan. By the 8th the whole attempt had dearly failed. When Parliament met a week after the stated day, the King, calm and gracious, told what had happened and then adjourned the meeting. At first Fawkes refused to name any except Percy who, with others, was killed in the course of a chase. In time he gave the names of all, who would have blown up the House of Lords ‘at a clap.’ Guy Fawkes was baptized at St. Michael le Belfrey, York, April 16, 1570, son of Edward Fawkes, a proctor and advocate in the church courts of York. The father died and the mother married a Papist. In 1603 Guy Fawkes went to Madrid to urge that Philip III to invade England. Thus, he was a confirmed traitor, though egged on and used by more astute plotters.
A number of plotters were former members of the Church of England. Most of them had some land and wealth. They were all highly disturbed throwbacks, who meant to subvert the state and get rid of King James. Church and state, they were sure, must be at one, with the Pope. For nearly a year, the plotters had been digging a tunnel from a distance, but had found the wall under the House of Lords nine feet thick. They had then got access to the cellar by renting a building. They had planned to kill the King, seize his children, stir up an open revolt with the aid from Spaniards in Flanders, put Princess Elizabeth (not to be confused with Queen Elizabeth) on the throne, and marry her to a Papist. Though all but one, Sir Everard Digby, pleaded not guilty, the court, condemned all the conspirators to death. That same week they were all hanged, in St. Paul’s churchyard.
Three months later came the trial of Henry Garnet, a Jesuit, thought to be head of the Jesuits in England. Brought up a Protestant, he knew of the plot but had shrunk in horror from it, though he left the chosen victims to their fate. The court condemned him also to die. In fact, all of this concerned the men at work on the Bible. At Garnet’s hanging, in St. Paul’s churchyard, John Overall, Dean of St. Paul’s took time off from translating the King James Bible, to be present. So, after the men assigned to the gruesome duty had hanged, drawn, and quartered the victim, Dean returned to St. Paul’s and his task of translating the King James Bible.” Thus the “Gunpowder Plot” had failed and the plotters were brought to justice. As usual, where there was treachery there was a Jesuit. Did the failure of this plan stop the Jesuits? Of course not. Garnet had allowed this drastic plan to be carried out too soon. He had forgotten the Jesuit rule to act a little at a time “surtout, pas trop de zele” (which is French for “above all, not too much zeal”). By acting too swiftly they had been discovered, or did God’s providence have something to do with it. I think so.
And let me now quote from historian Dr. Samuel Gipp, “The Jesuits’ task was to entice Protestant scholarship back to Rome. They knew that they could not wean the leaders of Protestantism back into Rome as long as the stubborn “heretics” clung to the pure text of the Reformers. This Bible would have to be replaced with one which contained the pro-Roman Catholic readings of Jerome’s Vulgate and the Jesuit translation of 1582. It would be necessary to “educate” the Protestant scholars to believe that their Reformation Text was unreliable and that their King James Bible was “not scholarly.” Once thus programmed, the egotistical scholars would spontaneously attack their own Bible and believe that they were helping God. The most important objective to be realized would be to replace the Bible as the final authority. The Authorized Version aka the King James Bible, which was not authorized by the king, but the people, I might add, had become a mightier foe than Rome had anticipated.
As Dr. McClure points out: “The printing of the English Bible has proved to be by far the mightiest barrier ever reared, to repel the advance of Popery, and to damage all the resources of the Papacy. Originally intended for the five or six million who dwelt within the narrow limits of the British Islands, it at once formed and fixed their language, till then unsettled; and has since gone with that language to the isles and shores of every sea.” Friend, the gunpowder plot was an attempt in many ways to stop the publication of the King James Bible, which had commenced two years prior. Rome despises this bible, because it is the power of God, and perfection in print. Every major revival down the centuries has spawned from its pages and although the Puritans carried the Geneva Bible across the Atlantic, to these shores, the King James Bible quickly surpassed it in popularity and proliferation.
Much has been written about King James down the years, some even going as far as to accuse him of being homosexual, long after his death. Yet these are merely lies, concocted by Jesuits to discredit and dishonor the man. King James was a very impressive sovereign by all accounts. Although the son of bloody queen Mary, God had him raised under strict Protestant guidance. King James was highly intelligent. To quote from historian Olga Opfell, “Among those justifiably attributed refinements was King James’ reputation as a paragon of learning, crammed with Greek and Latin and other tongues. In spite of his physical disabilities, his mind was first rate. Already at the age of seven, he was able to extempore…to read a chapter of the Bible out of Latin into French and next out of French into English as well as few men could have added anything to his translation. In due time he became known as the most educated sovereign in Europe.”
David Ralston goes on to say, “King James was regarded by those of his own time as, ‘the British Solomon.’ He was wise not only in politics and academics, but in Theology. He was devoutly interested in the word of God. He made it clear, he wanted the Holy Word of God to be in the hands of people and not chained to pulpits or hoarded in cellars, to be read only by Greek scholars.” And thank God he achieved this aim. Friend, sadly, when I observe the leadership of the British government today, those in the 17th century who prevented Guy Fawkes would lament with sorrow, because in their eye the current administration has certainly been overrun by Jesuits. The British government is currently comprised mostly, of globalists, Jesuits, and Freemasons, with protestants fading into the background. The polices of this and recent administrations are dishonorable to the Judeo-Christian values which granted them the platform of democracy in the first place.
The values that our brave men and women fought for in a bygone era, are no longer upheld and for that reason, we need to pray for the United Kingdom and its leaders in power, that they would see the light of the gospel and the God who gave it…This waning in true leadership is a concerted effort to conform the nation states to the coming New World order and strip them of their sovereignty; the sovereignty God gave them. The Jesuits need not, blow up the Houses of parliament if they can successfully infiltrate it from within…this truly is our darkest hour, and only by God’s grace will true democracy survive the pernicious Jesuit threat of globalism…Remember, remember the 5th of November.
Bibliography:
Samuel Gipp, Gipp’s Understandable history of the King James Bible (Day Star Publishing; 2nd edition (January 1, 2000)
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/the-history-of-the-king-james-bible/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Guy-Fawkes-Day
Title: Remember the 5th of November
Related keyword searches:
