King James found that existing Bible translations in English were not satisfactory and so in January 1604 he convened the Hampton Court Conference in which he commissioned a group of scholars to create a new translation of the Bible which came to be known as the King James Version. The task of translation was undertaken by 47 scholars who started work on the King James Bible towards the end of 1604 and they finished the translation by 1611. King James Bible
When the Jesuits realized that such a momentous task was initiated, they immediately devised a plan to kill the King and all the Bible translators. They knew that the scholars had access to the correct Bible manuscripts and if a Bible was compiled and printed under the authority and sponsorship of the King then millions of copies would be made and distributed around the world. This would deliver a deadly blow to the power of the Pope and so the Jesuits fought hard to stop the creation of the King James Bible.
The Jesuits didn’t have any time to waste and so they decided to kill off the major players in the King James translation when the Parliament would open for its first session on November 5th, 1605.
The Jesuits were so deeply involved in the treacherous gun powder plot that the plot came to be also known as the Jesuit Treason.
The sinister plot was masterminded by Henry Garnett, the leader of the Jesuits in England along with other Jesuits such as Oswald Tesimond, John Gerard, Nicholas Owen, and Thomas Garnet. These Jesuits were known to be involved in several other plots in the past to kill Protestant Kings and Queens some of which have already been discussed earlier in this article. They set up secret communities and worked to sow seeds of disharmony and sedition amongst the Catholic population. As a result of their behavior, the Jesuits were banned in several countries including England. Nevertheless, the Jesuits would return back to the country and operate covertly to advance their malicious designs and continue to subvert the government and authority of the day.
The fact that Jesuits were involved in the gunpowder plot is recorded by the British Parliament under the direction of King James 1 shortly after the gunpowder plot was discovered.
The Thanksgiving Act was an Act of the Parliament of England passed in 1606 in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot.
The preamble to the Act records the following:
“ many malignant and devilish Papists, Jesuits, and Seminary Priests, much envying and fearing, conspired most horribly, when the King’s most excellent Majesty, the Queen, the Prince, and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, should have been assembled in the Upper House of Parliament upon the Fifth Day of November in the Year of our Lord One thousand six hundred and five, suddenly to have blown up the said whole House with Gunpowder : An Invention so inhuman, barbarous and cruel, as the like was never before heard of.“
- The Thanksgiving Act
“ THAT whereas our Sovereign Lord the King had, by the Advice and Assent of his Council, for divers weighty and urgent Occasions concerning, his Majesty, the State, and Defence of the Church and Kingdom of England, appointed a Parliament to be holden at his City of Westminster; That Henry Garnet, Superior of the Jesuits within the Realm of England, (called also by the several names of Wally, Darcy, Roberts, Farmer, and Henry Philips) Oswald Tesmond Jesuit, otherwise called Oswald Greenwell, John Gerrard Jesuit, (called also by the several names of Lee and Brooke) Robert Winter, Thomas Winter, Gentlemen, Guy Fawkes Gent. otherwise called Guy Johnson, Robert Keyes Gent. and Thomas Bates Yeoman, late Servant to Robert Catesby Esquire; together with the said Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy Esquires, John Wright and Christopher Wright Gentlemen, in open Rebellion and Insurrection against his Majesty, lately slain, and Francis Tresham Esq; lately dead; as false Traitors against our said Sovereign Lord the King, did traitorously meet and assemble themselves together; and being so met, the said Henry Garnet, Oswald Tesmond, John Gerrard, and other Jesuits, did maliciously, falsly, and traitorously move and persuade as well the said Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Robert Keyes, and Thomas Bates, as the said Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, John Wright, Christopher Wright, and Francis Tresham, That our said Sovereign Lord the King, the Nobility, Clergy, and whole Commonalty of the Realm of England, (Papists excepted) were Hereticks; and that all Hereticks were accursed and excommunicate; and that none Heretick could be a King; but that it was lawful and meritorious to kill our said Sovereign Lord the King, and all other Hereticks within this Realm of England, for the Advancing and Enlargement of the pretended and usurped Authority and Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, and for the restoring of the superstitious Romish Religion within this Realm of England.
A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors from the Earliest Period to the Year 1820 by Thomas Bayly Howell
Conclusion
The gunpowder plot was not some random plot by a disgruntled revolutionary and anarchist but rather a covert operation conducted by the Jesuits and Papists to advance the nefarious purposes of the Papacy to seize control of England and disrupt the publishing of the King James Bible.