This is one of the dates children know, as well as they know the date of their own birthday. From being tiny tots they are taught to chant: “Remember, remember the fifth of November, Gun powder, treason and plot.” Of course we were raised on the popular version of the story that the villain of the piece was Guy Fawkes, who, in 1605 was discovered ready to blow up the Houses of Parliament with barrels of gunpowder. Lord Monteagle, a Roman Catholic Peer of the Realm, had been warned not to attend the State Opening of Parliament on November 5th, hinting that a severe explosion could take place. The cellars of the Parliament buildings were searched and Guy Fawkes was later discovered with a huge wood pile under which were vast quantities of gunpowder. Guy Fawkes, a 35 year old Yorkshire man, had been recruited because of his courage and coolness in action with the Spanish Army.
This whole story is but the tip of a political iceberg, the greater part of which is beneath the surface. The appallingly hideous death-punishment meted out to Guy Fawkes has been masked by the carnival effigies made and burned in his memory, and all set in displays of fireworks (which were not part of the original story).
No, I am not about to start moaning about the present three or four weeks of fireworks which once were ignited only on this one night. No, I am not complaining about the bonfire parties, and what terror the noises of fireworks create in domestic animals. But I am concerned that every year good people, even careful and experienced people, get maimed and burned, and some even killed by remembering the festival which, perhaps by now, in a liberal-minded society, should have been buried and forgotten. But … any excuse for a party, Eh? Despite the risks, the dangers, and the callousness, and remembering the brutal execution of a traitor, we will remember it because it is an exciting occasion, now virtually severed from its callous roots.
I am more impressed in these later years of mine with another act of remembrance in November. It is on the 4th Thursday of that month, and is called “Thanksgiving Day”. It’s an American festival, of course, and commemorates the thankfulness of the nation’s founding fathers. You all know the details. The vital difference between Bonfire Night and Thanksgiving is just that in the latter, people are urged to remember and give thanks to God for all his mercies. Psalm 100: 1-3Psalm 100: 1-3
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
100 A Psalm of praise. praise: or, thanksgiving ¹ Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. all...: Heb. all the earth ² Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. ³ Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. and not...: or, and his we are  

WP-Bible plugin
Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
A Prayer:
Can you say, and mean, the General Thanksgiving from memory? It begins: “Almighty God, we thine unworthy servants, do give thee most humble and heart thanks for all thy …” Well, go on then!!
Now read Leviticus 25: 1-24Leviticus 25: 1-24
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
25 ¹ And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying, ² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD. keep: Heb. rest ³ Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; ⁴ But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. ⁵ That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. of thy vine...: Heb. of thy separation ⁶ And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, ⁷ And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat. ⁸ And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. ⁹ Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. of the jubile: Heb. loud of sound ¹⁰ And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. ¹¹ A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. ¹² For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. ¹³ In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession. ¹⁴ And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another: ¹⁵ According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee: ¹⁶ According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee. ¹⁷ Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God. ¹⁸ Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety. ¹⁹ And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. ²⁰ And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: ²¹ Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. ²² And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store. ²³ The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. for ever: or, to be quite cut off: Heb. for cutting off ²⁴ And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.  

WP-Bible plugin.