Prince-Protecting PROVIDENCES OR A COLLECTION OF SOME Historical Passages Relating how Several Princes and Personages Born for Great Actions have had Miraculous Preservations Made Publick upon Occasion of the late Memorable and Miraculous Deliverance of His Royal Highness JAMES Duke of York Numb 23. 23. Non est Incantatio non est Divinatio contra Jacobum Prov. 21. 30. Non est Concilium contra Dominum And first Some out of Sacred Writ JOseph's Brethren conspire his Death Reuben of all the rest is against the Bloody Cruelty but advises to put him into a Pit as a means either to be starved or devoured by some Evil Beast Judah afterward advises to sell him to the Midianitish Merchants and They carry him into Aegypt and sell him to Potiphar the King's Steward Being in his Service he has an unjust Accusation framed against him by his Mistriss He is imprison'd and in Prison Expounding the Chief Butler and Baker's Dream he is after made known to the King and Expounding his Dream also is made sole Govenour over all Aegypt So to save not only the Aegyptians from starving but also his Father and unnatural Brethren Moses when Born is hid Three Months then exposed in a little Ark upon the River Nile Pharoah's Daughter spies him causes him to be taken up and Nursed as her Son Heb. 11. â— As a Presage of his future being a Prince and good Justicier he kills the injuring Aegyptian for which Pharaoh seeks to slay him He flies to Midian Marries the Priest or Princes Daughter God appears to him induing him with a Spirit working Wonders makes him the General Conductor of the Children of Israel through the Red-Sea a miraculous Passage and afterwards institutes him their Governour David is deliver'd from the Paws of the Lyon and Bear from the Sword of Goliah and after of other Philistines from Saul's Javelin and his Lyings in wait and continued Persecutions from the Envy of the Philistine Lords from all these to fight the Lord's Battels and be King of Israel at the appointed Time Athaliah puts to Death all the King's Sons except Joash for his Aunt takes him and hides him Six Years in great Privacy the Seventh Year the People rise unanimously slay Athaliah Crown Joash King This was that good Prince that Repaired the Temple and did that which was Good in the Sight of the Lord 2 King Chap. 11. Chap. 12. Paul Ordained to be the great Doctor of the Gentiles and to die a Martyr for the Truth at Rome the Mistress of the World is miraculously Converted and as miraculously often-times Preserved Act. 9. a Conspiracy being to Kill him his Friends let him down over the Wall in a Basket Act. 14. is stoned and supposed to be dead Chap. 16. whipped and imprisoned with a succeeding Miracle Chap. 18. accused by the Jews excused by Gallio Chap. 19. escapeth the Sedition raised against him by Demetrius Chap. 23. delivered by the Chief Captain from a Conspiracy of Forty Chap. 27. escapes Shipwrack and lastly arrives at Rome which was his Terminus ad Quem to Receive the Crown of Martyrdom Josephus tells us The Divine Protection appear'd in Titus the Son of Vespasian destin'd to ruin Jerusalem and subdue the Jews before he besieged the City he went about to discover and fell into an Ambuscado of his Enemies At which time if ever it was known God disposeth of the Moments of War and Lives of Princes He had neither Helmet on his Head nor Armour on his Body because he went not to Fight but to discover of an infinite Number of Arrows that were shot at him not one lighted on him but fell beside him or at his Horses Feet though the Jews encouraging one another Sallyed out charging and re-charging him which way soever he turned Suetonius tells us That Augustus Caesar escaped a Great Danger for one of the Chief Men among the Gauls confessed to some of his Friends That he had fully resolved to make as if he would have parlied with Augustus in his Passage over the Alpes and that at his coming within him he would have thrown him down but the Amiableness and Majesty of the Emperour deter'd him in the very moment Valerius Maximus lib. 9. chap. 11. maketh mention of such another Treason intended against this great Prince which was likewise frustrated Gabriel Fondulo Lord of Cremona confessed before his Death That he had once resolved with himself to throw down head-long from the High Tower of Cremona the Emperor Sigismond who was gone up thither to see the City and Country thereabouts But at the very Juncture and Moment his Conscience was affrighted Historia Italica All Historians say He was a most excellent Prince He it was that to cure the great Schism in the Papacy procured the General Council of Constance The Famous Emperour Charles the Fifth born for Great Actions escaped just such a Designe of being thrown from the Top of the Temple of Pantheon in Rome by a certain malevolent Italian but his Heart failed him in the Nick of Time Camerarius Henry the Third Emperour a Famous Prince and a Manager of great Wars was Entertained and Lodged very sumptuously by the Countess Richilda and as she was making a Request to the Emperour and he reaching his Hand to her in token of Appeal the Chamber-Floor suddenly brake under them the Emperour fell into a Bathing-Vessel that was in the Room underneath and had no Harm But Bruno Bishop of Virtsbourgh Alemannus Bishop of Eversbourgh and the Countess were so bruised they died in few days Aventinus Frederick the First Emperour being in St. Peter's Cloyster in Erford had Occasion to go the Privy some of Quality accompanying suddenly the Floor sunk and the Emperour had miscarry'd if he had not suddenly taken hold of the Grates of a Window where he hung till some came and relieved him Some Gentlemen fell to the Bottom and perished among others Henry Earl of Swartzenbourgh who carryed the Presage of his Death in a common Imprecation which was this If I do it not let me die in a Privy This was that Famous Emperour stiled Barbarossa recommended to the States by his Predecessor Conrade famous for his Wars in Italy Sicily and Armenia and who also ' scaped a great Danger accompanied only with one Servant for a desperate Fellow of a sudden rushing upon him out of an Ambuscado close by a River endeavoured to cast him in but not prevailing leapt himself into the River and swam away Albertus Crantzius Henry the Fourth Emperour This famous Prince was fain to put his Hand to the Sword at Fourteen years of Age and fought Sixty-two Battels ere he laid down Aventine writes of him he escaped a great Danger near to Spire for having been by the Plotting of Hanno Arch-Bishop of Collen brought into a sumptuous Boat trimmed and provided to carry him away Prisoner misdoubting that some ill Turn was meant him he cast himself into the Rhine where he had been drowned but
for the kind Endeavour of his Kinsman Egbert who got him a Shoar This same Emperour used to go often to Prayers in St. Maries Church in Mount Aventine Pope Gregory the Seventh who carried a watchful Eye over this great Princes Actions commanded one to take notice of the Place where he was wont to pray and got a certain Fellow to go up upon the Top of the Church and there upon the Beams to place certain great Stones which should be so fitly laid that with the least touch they should fall down upon the Emperour's Head and brain him at their Fall The Villain went so hastily to work that as he thought to have rowled down a very great Stone the said Stone with his weight drew him too So that Man and Stone came down together upon the Temple-floor where the Man was killed with the Stone that fell upon him and the Emperour escaped The good Emperour notwithstanding would have the Wretch to be buried Bodin tells of a certain Gentleman of Normandy who once resolved to have killed King Francis but the Divine Power operating he repented him of his wicked Purpose This was that Famous Francis the great Emulator of Charles the Fifth and opposing him in all his Ambitious Undertakings Justin tells us Astyages upon a Dream caused his Grand-Son to be delivered to Harpagus to be made away which he unwilling to do himself delivers him to the King's Shepherd he also unwilling to kill the Infant exposes him in the Woods and afterwards finds a Bitch suckling of him and defending him from Beasts and Birds His Wife perswades him to expose her own Son and bring up the other which is consented to Thus was that great Conquerour of Asia Cyrus preserved whose Birth was foretold by Isaiah Three Hundred years before it happened Isa 44. 28. Justin telleth us also Gargoris King of the Curetes his Daughter was got with with Child he commands the Innocent to be made away First It was exposed in Solitary Places and the Wild Beasts they suckle it instead of devouring it Secondly It is laid in a narrow Way where droves of Beasts went to and returned from the Field they trod not on him but contrary Goats and Cows stand still and suckle him Hungry Dogs spare him And cast to Sows they suckle him Then he is cast into the Sea where he floats and the Waves carry him a Shoar and a Hinde nourishes and brings him up Finally After sometime he is taken in a Toil or Net and presented to his Grand-Father and known by certain Marks is proclaimed Heir and proved an Excellent Prince Procus Silvius had two Sons Numitor and Amulius Amulius having chased his Elder Brother Numitor out of the Country caused also his Daughter Rhea to become a Vestal-Virgin she becomes great of two Sons and delivered These Amulius exposes Fortune provides 'em for Nurse a Shee-Wolfe bereaved of her Whelps and willing to have her Duggs drawn who often suckles them Faustulus the King's Shepherd takes notice of this wond'rous Accident and brings them up in a Country way At length they revenge the Injury done to Numitor and restore him These Miraculously nourish't-Twins were ordained to be Founders of the City Rome the future Lady of the World And so by an unexpected Providence were preserved as Justin and other Authors Hiero King of Sicily was a Bastard and exposed by his Father Hieroclitus Wanting Humane Helps the Bees nourish him which his Father knowing and consulting the South-sayers holds it for a good Omen takes him home and gives him agreeable Education This was he that succeeded the Great Pyrrhus in the Sicilian Kingdom and of whom Justin gives a most Royal Character Homay Queen of Persia left with Child by her Husband at five Months end is deliver'd of a Son The Astrologers are conven'd who consult the Stars and find He should cause great Miseries and Ruin to his Realms so as many were of opinion he should be put to Death The Mother would not yield to that but caused him to be put in a little Cradle enclosed within a Coffer or Ark of Wood in which she put many precious Jewels of great value to the end if any poor Man found him he might the rather afford to bring him up He was carried far from thence upon the River Jehun and was taken up by a poor Landerer or Washer of Linnen He brings him up when he was grown Great nothing would serve him but the Profession of Arms. He enters into the Army of his unknown Mother performs Wonders is brought before her and after Questions aks't is by her acknowledg'd and succeeds in the Kingdom Exceeding all his Predecessors in Bounty and Wisdom contrary to the Opinion of the Chaldeans or Astrologers who do not always Preach the Gospel Ex Chronio Persico Kozrar King of Persia upon a Dream caused Jazdegard his Grand-Son to be carried into a Solitary and Desart Place exposed to the Mercy of Wild Beasts where certain Herdsmen passing by took him and gave him Breeding according to their poor Quality Coming to Age he found means to know his Beginning and having a Mind agreeable to his Birth he went to Court where he carried himself so bravely that at length he was acknowledged for what he was so as after he was made King and Governed exceeding well On St. Dunstan's Day 1251. Eâ—â—anor the Queen Wife to Henry the Third sitting with her Children in a Chamber at Windsor-Castle a marvellous Tempest of Thunder and Lightening beat down to Dust the Chimney of the said Chamber where they were they receiving no harm She was a devout and good Queen and the Children are supposed to be Prince Edward then some Twelve Years old Edmund Earl of Lancaster Margaret after Queen of the Scots Beatrix afterwards Dutchess of Britain Stow. Anno 1287. The fore-said Prince Edward now become King sitting with the Queen together in a Chamber a Thunder-Clap entring the Window passed between them and slew two of their Houshold Servants they remaining unhurt Stow. This was that Famous Edward that tamed the Scots and Welch See Weaver pag. 456 457 458 459. During his being in the Holy-Land he was wounded by a Saracen with a venom'd Knife the Poison whereof was sucked out by his Queen otherwise the Wound thought uncurable Fox the Martyrologist in the Beginning of his Discourse of this Princes Reign has a Memorable Passage That he once playing at Chess with a certain Souldier suddenly upon no occasion given rose up and went his way when presently a mighty Stone fell down from the Vault directly upon the Place where he sate which had undoubtedly brained him Henry the Eighth following his Hawk leapt over a Ditch with a Pole which broke so that if Edmund Moody a Foot-man had not leapt into the Water and lift up the King's Head which stuck in the Clay he had been drown'd This Foot-man was rewarded both with Means and Arms speaking his Service done to his Prince
And the King lived to perform afterwards a Deed of grand Concern I could mention some notable Deliverances of Queen Elizabeth but her Sufferings and Life having been Printed not long since I shall forbear But I will recite what Camerarius says concering King James His words are We must not forget the Divine Protection and miraculous Deliverance of James the Sixth late King of Scotland and Now King of Great Britain upon the Fifth of August 1660. This Prince giving Credit to the Words and Protestations of Alexander Brother to the Earl Gowry fell into an Ambush laid for him by these two Brethren and other their Confederates where being unarm'd and assaulted by two that were intent to Murder him he so defended himself for a while by his Royal Port and forcible Speech they had no Power to bind him And adds That Andrew Hinderson appointed to be the chief Assassine seeing Alexander the Earl's Brother with his naked Ponyard threatning the King he lost all Courage and fell into an exceeding Horrour and Fear c. I might mention here the Miraculous Restoring of the Royal Family I shall only mention some Verses of a Panegyrick to his Royal Highness upon His Majesty's late Declaration concerning the said Duke's Pretensions which Verses hint the said Restauration God's wond'rous Hand after a long Exile Them hand in hand reduc'd to Native Isle When Wisest Men esteem'd Their State forlorn They saw Them stated in the Land where Born A strange Agreement They have underwent Sometimes of Bliss sometimes of Discontent Viz. The King and Duke Day-Fatality pag. 7. says thus of his Royal Highness his going to Holland The Gods Thy Exit have Ordain'd and also They Thy Blest Return have ' firm'd Born on a Lucky Day He adds also The Third of March the Day of his Departure was Dedicated to St. Maximus St. Marinus St. Lucius and says Quod hic Maximus princeps gestis Marinis Maxime Lucet alias Lucebit This most Great Prince is extreamly Illustrious in Sea-Matters and shall yet be otherways most Conspicuous I think the Late Shipwrack has made him so and proves God has set his Titular Angels over him 'T is true he lost his Ship but that is like the Snakes casting off his Skin foreboding a Renovation of Felicity St. Paul religiously boasts of his Shipwrack 2 Cor. 11. 25. Thrice says he have I suffered Shipwrack And why may not his Royal Highness rejoyce in this Disaster as St. Paul does Ver. 20. of the said Chapter Great JAMES whom Shipwrack lately hath assail'd But whom Divine Protection never fail'd And upon whom great Glory is entail'd And at whose Presence all his Foes are quail'd Still Trust in Him who is of Kings the Shield And to Good Princes always Help doth yield Those that presum'd thou wer 't of God forsaken Must now confess themselves Fools and mistaken The Malice of the Devil Wind and Sea To check Thy Fortunes can hold forth no Plea Good Omens still accompany Thy State And God himself forbids Distast'rous Fate The Malice of Thy Foes has now an End And They with the lost Frigat downward tend But Thou buoy'd up with Providence Divine Shall float above and fear no Vndermine He whom the Seas did dare but could not harm Need not to fear the mean Phanatick Swarm A Signe from Heaven has those Jews confounded Whose Cancre once against Thy Face rebounded Tutus sit Augustissimus Rex Carolus Sancti Foelicis Festo prospere natus Celsissimus Illustrissimus Dux Jacobus Quem stellam Borealem ante multos annos Praedixere Vates Vniversa Stirps Regia a turba Phanatica Anti-monarchica Introduct ad Latinam Blasoniam pag. 165. It 's remarkable His Royal Highness Arrived safe at London on Saturday the Twenty-Seventh Day of May after his so Memorable Escape which Day is Dedicated to Venerable Bede A good Omen that hence-forward the People shall Eum Respicere Venerari quem non ita pridem visi sunt Despicere Venari Reverence and Respect Him whom so lately they Despised and Persecuted A Book very lately Printed stiled Introductio ad Latinam Blasoniam mentions in its Prologue to the Addenda a Pamphlet Published upon his Royal Highness's Return from the Low-Countries whose Title should have been Dux Bonis Ominibus Appellens or The Swan's Welcome But there was a strange Mistake not only in that but in other Material Circumstances so that many suppose the Printer could never have done it himself but borrowed the Assistance of the Evil Spirit to render it Ridiculous and not only so but the very Duke himself and the Loyal Artillery The Explanation of the Title was this Some Remarks upon that Note-worthy Passage mentioned in the True Domestick Intelligence Dated Octob. 14. 1679. concerning a Company of Swans more than ordinary gathered together at his Royal Highness's Landing The Printer smelt he had befoul'd himself with-drew his Vent and smothered the far greatest Number of them so that for some Reasons I have thought good to Reprint it and it follows I Hope my Flagellum Mercurii Antiducalis hath given the World some Satisfaction as to my Day-Fatality so much carp'd at by Romes-Packet Septemb. 5. as also by the Touch of the Times I shall only say That even the pure sincere Cloak-party themselves have taken notice of the Fatality of Days for page 367. of the Memoires of the Lives and Actions of James and William Dukes of Hamilton says That the Rout of Duke Hamilton 's Army was received with great joy by the Kirk-Party in Scotland who Religiously observed That the Division of the Duke's Army which was its Ruine was upon the 17. of August which was the Day on which the Covenant was made thence called by some St. Covenants Day But to my present matter I concluded my Decastich in the Fatality with this English Version Great Duke rejoyce in this Your Day of Birth And may such Omens still increase Your Mirth Since which Composition some kind Omens have befallen His Royal Highness as the Third of March's Dedications which though derided by the Time-Toucher St. Felix Day the 29th Day of May observed by the Publisher of the Royal Effigies and since recited by me in my late Flagellum And Also St. Lucie's Day memorably observed by the two eminent Brethren St. Marthes in the Birth of Henry le Grand King of France sufficiently excuse allow and protect the words are these He was Born the 13th of December St. Lucies Day as if by a good Augury to be the Light and Ornament of the Princes of his time A Day remarkable for the Winter Solstice and esteem'd the most happy point of all Nativities Thus they And again the Accidents of the Swans accosting the Duke at his Landing That Birds some are Male-ominous some Bene-ominous ill or well boding Authors give many instances and I am able my self to particularise I will onely mention three or four from the Authority of others Chrales from His Stature called