place of opulence. As Werner comments, their hymns were a contrast to the "more staid hymns sung in Wesleyan chapels". All their members were seen as equal and addressed as brother or sister; even children could participate fully. Many children actually became preachers, for instance boy preachers such as Thomas Brownsword, Robinson Cheeseman and John Skevington. There were also many girl preachers, such as Elizabeth White and Martha Green, who preached as 15-year-olds. The Wesleyan Conference condemned female ministry in 1803, so effectively closing its doors to female preaching. Women were limited to working in Sunday Schools and speaking at "Dorcas Meetings". By contrast, Primitive Methodism allowed the poor, the young, and women to gain public influence. The Primitive Methodists were more receptive to such views, and so took a different line on the supernatural. Wesleyans tried hard to distance themselves from superstition, and superstitious popular culture. The Primitive Methodists engaged with popular beliefs in presenting God as one whose powers could be called upon by preachers. Examples can be found in the Primitive Methodist Magazine. For instance, the December 1824 edition contains an anecdote of a cripple being healed through her conversion to Primitive Methodism. The November edition from the same year contains a chapter on "raising the dead" under the title A Treatise on the Cultivation of the Spiritual Gifts. Primitive Methodists saw the Lord's work in everything. The Primitive Methodist Magazine of 1821 asserting that the movement had begun "undesigned of man" and was an example of "Divine Providence". The magazine continues to reveal further examples of God's power and favour towards them. A man who set out against the Primitive Methodists was struck down by illness, and a preacher who became lost and stranded was saved when the Lord sent people to find him. The leadership clearly believed in what many at the time would have derided as popular superstition. For example, Clowes claimed to have fought with the Kidsgrove Boggart as a young man and Bourne believed in witches. About a woman he met at Ramsor, Bourne wrote, "I believe she will prove to be a witch. These are the head labourers under Satan, like as the fathers are the head labourers under Jesus Christ.... For the witches throughout the world all meet and have connection with the power devil." The magazine finds exaltations of the laity one of the most important happenings at Camp