. The origin and history of the Primitive Methodist Church . er living at Ambaston, a village seven miles fromDerby. Until 1814 he had been a Methodist local preacher, but having in that year taken a prominent part in a camp meeting at Mercaston hehad been dealt with, and was now actively identifiedwith the new movement, and already beginning to provehimself a missioner with a peculiar tact for opening newplaces. In Sarah Kirkland he seems to have taken aninterest almost paternal. Not merely did her orphanedcondition appeal to his sympathy, but he seems to havediscovered in her capabilities of
. The origin and history of the Primitive Methodist Church . er living at Ambaston, a village seven miles fromDerby. Until 1814 he had been a Methodist local preacher, but having in that year taken a prominent part in a camp meeting at Mercaston hehad been dealt with, and was now actively identifiedwith the new movement, and already beginning to provehimself a missioner with a peculiar tact for opening newplaces. In Sarah Kirkland he seems to have taken aninterest almost paternal. Not merely did her orphanedcondition appeal to his sympathy, but he seems to havediscovered in her capabilities of service he made it hisbusiness to foster and direct. Winfield, we are told, hadgreat faith in female preachers ; nor is this surprising, forhis faith was grounded on experience. Mrs. Taft (MaryBarrett) was one of the most successful female preachersof her generation, and it was through her instrumentalitythat Winfield had been led to Christ. Two futureWesleyan presidents were amongst her many converts—Thomas Jackson and Joseph Taylor; yet, although many. MRH. TAFT. THE PERIOD OF CIRCUIT PREDOMINANCE AND ENTERPRISE. 195 acknowledged the call of Mrs. Taft and others of the sisterhood to preach the gospel,there were others who accepted the manifest election of God with ill-grace, doubtfulquestionings, or misplaced banter. God often works by strange instruments, saidWilliam Atherton when preaching a funeral sermon on the occasion of the death ofPresident Taylor; Balaam was converted by the braying of an ass, and Peter by thecrowing of a cock; and our lamented brother by the preaching of a woman one GoodFriday morning. * But this convert of Mary Taft did believe in female preaching, and evidently hebelieved in Sarah Kirkland. His faith in both was justified, for his own dauo-literlived to become a talented and useful preacher, though in another community, andSarah Kirklands progressive steps of usefulness we have to follow. At the invitationof Mr. Winfield she went, on March 15th
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