It was very far back, that experience;
it happened before Philippa was born;
and when they came to live between the
two villages Philippa was twenty-four
years old....

It was in the thirties that young
Roberts, a tanner in Lower Ripple,
went to England to collect a small
bequest left him by a relative. The
sense of distance, the long weeks at sea
in a sailing-vessel, the new country and
the new people, all impressed themselves
upon a very sensitive mind, a
mind which, even without such emotional
preparation, was ready to respond to
any deeply emotional appeal. Then
came the appeal. It was that new
gospel of the Tongues, which, in those
days, astounded and thrilled all London
from the lips of Edward Irving--fanatic,
saint, and martyr!--the man who, having
prayed that God would speak again
in prophecy, would not deny the power
of prayer by refusing to believe that his
prayer was answered, even though the
prophecy was unintelligible. And later,
when the passionate cadences of the
spirit were in English, and were found
to be only trite or foolish words,