Gunpowder, treason and plot

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, ’twas his intent
To blow up the King and the Parliament,
Three score barrels of powder below
Poor old England to overthrow.
By God’s providence he was catched
With a dark lantern and burning match.
(17th-century verse, author unknown)

1605 was a crucial year for the development of Protestant Christianity, principally because of what did not happen, namely the failure of the gunpowder under Parliament to ignite.

Robert Catesby was the instigator of the Powder Treason, and it was his intention to make Elizabeth, the young daughter of King James, the new queen. But Guy Fawkes is the most well-known conspirator, because he was caught ready to ignite the gunpowder.

The seeds of the Gunpowder Plot were planted in the reign of Henry VIII, and its shoots began to sprout during Mary Tudor, his daughter’s reign, when she was advised to rid the land of heretics. Her chosen consort, Philip II of Spain, was the most ardent supporter of the Inquisition; he appointed Bartolome de Carranza y Miranda to assist in cleansing the land of heresy through fire. He has gone down in history as the architect of the Marian persecutions, one of England’s darkest periods.

The target

King James I was a small, awkward, loud-mouthed, pedantic, ungainly and uncouth man, who was described as ‘the wisest fool in Christendom’. Amazingly, many people in England were surprised when they first met him to discover that James spoke with a strong Scots accent — but hardly surprising for a Scotsman!

What really launched the Gunpowder Plot was a two-day conference for senior clergy at Hampton Court Palace in January 1604 convened by James.

The king and his bishops had never liked the Geneva Bible, so when it was suggested by John Reynolds that a new authoritative version of the Bible be published, it appeared that James had been given a gift.

In response to this, Robert Catesby, also known as the ‘prince of darkness’, called a secret meeting of like-minded men and conspired to rid the nation of James and his translators. They could not tolerate the production of the newly-sanctioned Bible, especially as it was going to be ‘the best yet’, for by it the Roman Catholic cause would decline at a greater rate.

James I had a great fear of assassination and a mortal dread of gunpowder, for his father, Lord Henry Darnley, had been the victim of an explosion at his death on February 10 1567 in Edinburgh.

5/11

At 10.00 pm on November 4, Guy Fawkes collected a watch that Catesby had left for him; he needed it to time the fuse that would set off the gunpowder. Robert Catesby had already left London heading for the Midlands, where he would play a prominent role in the forthcoming uprising.

In the small hours of Tuesday November 5, a second and more thorough search party returned to the area of the cellar beneath the House of Lords. After a tip-off, King James had sent them with express orders to be most thorough in their investigations. In a corner of the infamous cellar, they discovered a figure in a dark hat and cloak, booted and spurred as though ready for rapid flight, carrying a lantern. After a struggle, Sir Thomas Knevett and the other members of the search party apprehended Fawkes. If the 3,600 lbs. of gunpowder had been ignited, it would have been enough to lay waste an area of Westminster over a radius of more than 500 yards.

The show trial of the eight surviving plotters was held in the ancient Westminster Hall on January 27 1606, where they were condemned to die by being hung, drawn and quartered.

Think about this

If the terrorists had succeeded in igniting their gunpowder, then there would have been no 1611 King James Bible, and there would have been no full flowering of the Puritan movement with its vast treasure of godly literature.

The Pilgrim Fathers would not have set sail across the Atlantic from London, to form a new Christian society in North America. As the King James Bible has been the single biggest influence on American life, think about the consequent effect on global history that would have occurred if godly men and women had not been responsible for laying such a good foundation in the New World.

The rise of Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth would have been prevented, and the extraordinarily popular book by John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress, would never have got off the press.

The Westminster Confession of Faith would never have been produced, as it dealt with the nature of salvation, the church and church government from a Protestant standpoint. Likewise, the Congregationalists would not have convened in 1658 to form the Savoy Declaration, and neither would the Baptists have met in 1689 to produce their Confession of Faith.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon would not have been influenced so profoundly by The Pilgrim’s Progress and many other Puritan works would not have been republished with his assistance. In the 20th century, Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s fresh championing of the Puritans could never have taken place.

One unusual result of the plot is that no Member of Parliament can die in the Houses of Parliament. If an MP does happen to expire in the buildings, the death certificate will have St. Thomas’s Hospital — across the River Thames — as the place of death.

When fireworks light up the night sky this year, let us remember and be thankful that God permitted the Powder Treason to fail, so that by contrast the light of his Word might be seen more clearly, that men may turn from their sin to the Saviour of the world.

Clive Anderson is the author of Gunpowder, treason and plot, published by Day One (96 pages, £5.00, ISBN 1 90308796); he also shows a PowerPoint presentation about this event.

The gruesome story of Guy Fawkes

The target

5/11

Think about this

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