John Porter

“ We can scarcely conceive, when gazing on the indolent deep in its placid mood, that at any time it could have been possessed with such a demon of fury and destruction as to swallow up broad fields, acres upon acres, of the foreland of the Fylde, and in its blind anger sweep away whole villages, levelling the house walls and uprooting the very foundations, so that no trace or vestige of their former existence should remain. ”

“ This generation seeketh to destroy my little flock, but ere long, I will give them another bone to gnaw upon, for I will bring in the king of Spain with an invincible army for the abuse of my gospel, which was the renown of this land, and made it famous in other churches, for the ministers of this church are turned into divisions and factions among themselves ”

“ The marine esplanade and the firm sands left by the receding tide were ever alive with crowds of people, who either for health or pleasure, or a combination of the two, had arrived in the watering-place. The bathing vans were still unequal to the demands on their accommodation, and many were compelled to dispense with their decorous shelter, and unrobe themselves on the more secluded parts of the beach. ”

“ I do not say as before, a sacrifice in Bozrah, but I say, a sacrifice in thee, wretched Scotland? for I will dye the ground with blood from Gath-hill, to Irvine-water, for I will purge my church of Popery and Prelacy, and all other errors, which are not according to the true principles of the church: For I will bring a small army with a few ministers of the principles of the mountain-men, sometime ago, nicknamed Whigs, and they shall be the true seed of the church. ”

“ Lytham is a very salubrious place; its walks are pleasant and diversified. You may walk for miles on the sand westward. You may trip to the Hey-houses and get bad ale. Common-side offers a journey, which, if you please, ends at Blackpool. The walks are many and various for those who love exercise; the lazy will soon tire here, but the active will never be at a loss. The sands are fine—the sea breeze pleasant—the air is impregnated with health. Sailing may be had at tide time; boats are occasionally going to Preston and over the water to Southport. ”

“ I will root out Antichrist, and it shall be with him as with the world at the last day, when I will dissolve it into nothing, it shall never take root again, which I will shortly accomplish.
30. Feb. 11. While I lay upon my bed, about two of the clock afternoon, the vision of light appeared so great, that I thought there was no house above, only clothes, and I heard a voice saying, As I am in heaven, and thou upon the earth, lying upon thy bed, I will give this generation a stroke, that all the doctors on the earth cannot cure. ”

“ On hearing the signal, the whole of the gentlemen, however agreeably occupied, were compelled, under a penalty of one bottle of wine for each offence, to vacate the shore and betake themselves to their several hotels or apartments, whilst the ladies, after sufficient time had elapsed for any stray member of the sterner sex to get safely and securely housed, emerged singly or in small groups from the different doorways, and, hurrying down to the edge of the sea, quickly threw off their loose bathing robes, and in a moment were sporting amid the waves like a colony of nereids or mermaids. ”

“ About ten of the clock at night, a great light shining about me, it was laid before me, that he was bringing a great army of French, Spaniard, Romish, and a part of every nation about them, to bring a stroke on this land for broken covenants, or slighted gospel, and the abounding sins of the land, and the blood of those who testified to the covenants, for, saith he, I will make the earth full of the blood of my enemies in this land! ”

“ In 869 Lancashire was again visited by a dreadful famine, and many of the people in every part of the county fell victims either to the dearth itself or the fatal disorders following in its train. Those who were fortunate enough to escape the wholesale destruction of the scourge suffered so severely from the merciless massacres of the Danes that at the accession of Alfred the Great, in 871, our Hundred was but sparsely populated. During the reign of that illustrious monarch England was divided into counties, which again were subdivided into Hundreds. ”

“ But this generation shall have few more warnings, till they be warned by the sword in their own bosoms! The first year shall lay the land desolate. Their design is to put their pretended king upon the throne, but they shall as soon put the wild fox that runs in the wood upon the throne, as they shall put him, or any of that race upon it, as my servants, hanged on gibbets for adhering to my interest, having testified and declared. ”

“ After the same manner I heard one saying, I will drive this generation in my anger, as the smoke of a furnace is driven, which no man can gather or bring back where it was; for I will make their ashes like a furnace that burneth, which, when it is past, men go and look into the furnace, and can see nothing but ashes; for the most part of this generation makes a mock at all my warnings of judgements, but they shall all be accomplished within a few years, as I have told thee in some warnings before. ”

“ In accordance with the royal mandate, which was circulated in secret, the Anglo-Saxon populace of the villages and farms of the Fylde, as elsewhere, rose at the appointed day upon the unprepared and unsuspecting Northmen, barbarously massacring old and young, male and female alike. Great must have been the slaughter in districts like our own, where from the Danes having been established for so many generations and its proximity to the coast and the estuaries of Wyre and Ribble, a safe landing and a friendly soil would be insured, and attract numbers of their countrymen from Scandinavia. ”

“ I condescended, not long ago, to lay out signs, and proposed months and days, but ye mocked and made light of it, but I shall now give a sign, and ye shall no where know years, months, weeks nor days, but when it comes ye shall all see it, for the sun and moon shall fall in one course, but what further is to be seen I will refer till the vision speak for itself, for there was never man saw such a night of darkness, for there shall neither be moon light nor star-light through the whole three kingdoms, from the one end to the other and all shall feel that darkness. ”

“ The daily crowds parading the recently-erected pier were satisfactory evidence of the high estimation in which that elegant addition to the attractions of the place was held, whilst the thronged thoroughfares during the heat of summer bore witness to the growing affection which Blackpool was gaining for itself in the hearts of the million. Active exertions were necessary on the part of the builders to keep pace with the ever-increasing demand for more extended residential provision, houses being scarcely completed before the eager tenants had established themselves in their new domiciles. ”

“ We hasten to lay at your Majesty’s feet the dutiful allegiance of the inhabitants of the youngest Town and Port in all your Majesty’s dominions, which dates its existence from the very year in which your Majesty first ascended the Throne of these realms; and which, from the barren and uninhabited sands of the Fylde of Lancashire, has already obtained some importance for its town of 3,000 inhabitants, its Watering-place, Harbour, and Railway, together with its College for the sons of clergymen and other gentlemen. ”

“ The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before that great and terrible day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. ”

“ Ships of considerable size, freighted with cargoes of various sorts, found their way to those secluded havens, and even within the last few years, during high tides, vessels laden with grain have been berthed and unloaded in the narrow creek leading from Skippool bay, while bags of guano have often terminated their sea-voyages at Wardleys. A solitary warehouse, however, undated, but bearing on its battered exterior and decaying timbers the unmistakable stamp of time, is, at the present day, almost the only remaining witness to the former pretentions of the first named place. ”

“ Fastning mine eyes on the man at a distance from me, I saw a great stone fall on a sudden, as from the very clouds, betwixt him and me, and he said, As thou hast seen this stone fall on a fudden, so I will bring the stroke upon this generation: but yet they will not believe it ”

“ There is nothing of local interest to recount during the period the Romans held the soil, but after their abdication, when the Anglo-Saxons violated their faith and traitorously seized a land which they had come professedly to protect, the Fylde began to evince symptoms of greater animation; villages sprang up in different spots on the open grounds or clearings in the woods; the solitary Roman settlement at Kirkham was appropriated and renamed by the new arrivals, and, perhaps, for the first time a population of numerical importance was established in the district. ”

“ It was said to me, How long shall this generation defer to hear my warnings? I will make this land without bread or water, for I am more concerned for this land, while they forbear to hear my warnings, than for the wilderness of Zin, wherein no man dwells. ”

“ Certainly, from that time forward, it began to grow into great request, and to be sold at a high rate; whilst in a short time many men, everywhere, some for wantonness, some for health sake, with insatiable desires and greediness, sucked in the stinking smoke thereof through an earthen pipe, which presently they blew out again at their nostrils; insomuch that tobacco-shops are now as ordinary in most towns as tap-houses and taverns. ”

“ I will tell thee another strange simile, concerning the men who depend on the world for their shelter in the ensuing stroke: I compare the world to an old rent mantle, which a man taketh about him, in a stormy day, he draws it up to cover his head, and his feet are all bare, and when he wraps his hands in it to cover himself before, it is riven all behind, and his back is all bare, it is so narrow, let him do what he will, there is more bare than covered. ”

“ The act which decreed the building of workhouses for the employment of the poor, stated that if any one refused to enter those houses, or objected to perform his share of labour, no relief should be apportioned to him. There can be little doubt that workhouses sprang up at Poulton and in the other parishes of the Fylde about that date, as well as at Kirkham, but in their cases there are no bailiffs’ registers, or similar records, to fall back upon for proof as to the accuracy of the surmise, and consequently we are unable to speak with absolute certainty. ”

“ At another time, as I was viewing the vision of light, I perceived one coming down with a great ax in his right hand, and turning himself upon a step, he set his one foot higher than the other, and the hand with the ax on his right knee, and swore with an oath by him that liveth for ever and ever; yea, ere long Britain shall know what is my commission with the ax: but let not that trouble thee, for thou shalt not see it. ”

“ The large mounds, or star-hills as they are called, which undulate the coast line from Lytham to South-Shore, are composed simply and purely of sand, covered over with a coarse species of herb, bearing the name of star-grass. Similar eminences at one time occupied the whole of the marine border of the Fylde, [127] but in many places the encroaching tide has not only annihilated the hills themselves, but even usurped their sites. The town of Fleetwood is erected on a foundation of sand, and several extensive mounds of that nature exist in its vicinity. ”

“ He answered, I create the ear to hear, and will give thee memory that thou mayest deliver to this generation as much as will leave them without excuse, or to say, that I brought a stroke upon them, without giving them warning: I know many will mock till they be infatuate, that they shall not know their enemies from their friends: therefore, go thou on in warning, and I will make good my word to thee. ”

“ For some little time after the foregoing transfer, the bathing vans, as if to keep up the fiction of the season, re-appeared with uninterrupted regularity each year upon the beach, but even that last connecting link between the deserted town, as far as visitors were concerned, and its former popularity, was doomed shortly to be broken, for the ancient machines, never renewed, and seldom repaired, were at length unequal to the rough journey over the cobble stones, and crumbled to pieces on the way, expiring miserably in the cause of duty, from old age and unmerited neglect. ”

“ How can we believe such warnings as these spoken by such a man, when it is reported by men of great skill that he is out of order and of a light brain? The other answered, I am the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star, I hold the seven stars in my right hand, who dare say unto me what doest thou? ”

“ About one mile from the town of Lytham, in the direction of Preston, is a pool of moderate dimensions, having an open communication with the river, and formed into a small harbour or dock for yachts and vessels connected with the coasting trade. In the bed of the river, a little higher up than that locality, trunks of large trees are occasionally observed at low water, and many such remains of a once noble forest, which is believed to have extended from near the Welsh coast as far even as Morecambe, have been raised at different times during the operation of dredging. ”

“ At the same time, I saw a man, as with a drawn sword in his hand, who said, I am come down to take peace from the earth, and to proclaim war against Antichrist, &c. by Michael and his anpels with this sword, with which I have given him one stroke already. And I heard another angel crying with a loud voice, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, Rev. xiv. 8, &c. For Antichrist hath assumed to himself the name of being Christ’s Vicar, which is Christ’s equal: whereas I have no equal neither will have any man have that name on earth. ”