History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org

Astonishing, superhuman almost, as seem the travels and labors of many of the earlier itinerants
none of them could have surpassed the adventurous energy of Nolley on his Tombigbee Circuit,
among the rudest settlements and Indian perils. For two years he ranged over a vast extent of country,
preaching continually, stopping for no obstructions of flood or weather. When his horse could not
go on he shouldered his saddlebags and pressed forward on foot. He took special care of the children,
growing up in a half savage condition, over all the country, and catechized and instructed them with
the utmost diligence, as the best means of averting barbarism from the settlements. To his successor
on the circuit he gave a list of them by name, solemnly charging him, "be sure to look after these
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children." He labored night and day also for the evangelization of the blacks. When Indian
hostilities prevailed, the settlers crowded into isolated forts and stockades. Nolley sought no shelter,
but hastened from post to post, instructing and comforting the alarmed refugees. He kept "the gospel
sounding abroad through all the country," says our authority. The people could not but love him,
admiring and wondering at his courage; and the very savages seemed to hear a voice saying unto
them, "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." It was in this wild country that
happened the fact, often cited as an illustration of the energy of the primitive Methodist ministry.
"The informant, Thomas Clinton," says a southern bishop, "subsequently labored in that region, and,
though a generation has passed, he is not forgotten there. In making the rounds of his work Nolley
came to a fresh wagon-track. On the search for anything that had a soul, he followed it, and came
upon the emigrant family just as it had pitched on the ground of its future home. The man was
unlimbering his team, and the wife was busy around the fire. 'What!' exclaimed the settler upon
hearing the salutation of the visitor, and taking a glance at his unmistakable appearance, 'have you
found me already? Another Methodist preacher! I left Virginia to get out of reach of them, went to
a new settlement in Georgia, and thought to have a long whet, but they got my wife and daughter into
the Church; then, in this late purchase, (Choctaw Corner,) I found a piece of good land, and was sure
I would have some peace of the preachers, and here is one before my wagon is unloaded.' Nolley
gave him small comfort. 'My friend, if you go to heaven you'll find Methodist preachers there; and
if to hell, I am afraid you will find some there; and you see how it is in this world, so you had better
make terms with us, and be at peace.' " [4]
By 1814 he had made his way into Louisiana to the renowned Opelousas and Attakapas Circuit,
which lay far in the interior of that state, half way of the distance from New Orleans to Texas, and
extended from the Red River to the Gulf. Wonderful things are still told of his labors on Bayou
Teche, the O'Tash River of Bowman's letter, heretofore quoted. He had great success on the circuit,
and no little persecution. As an example of the treatment he had to endure from a class of the rude
population, it is said that a sugar planter drove him away from his smoke-stack, where he had gone
to ask the privilege of warming himself. On one occasion, when he was preaching, some lewd
fellows of the baser sort took him forcibly from the stand, and were on their way to the bayou to
duck him; but a Negro woman, armed with a hoe, effected his rescue; and, having assisted the
exhausted preacher back to the house, and put him in the stand, said triumphantly, "There now,
preach." [5]
He appeared in the next Conference an attenuated, worn-out man, yet it was deemed necessary
to send him back to the same rugged field. "He went," says his presiding elder, "without a murmur."
He was accompanied on his return by Griffin. They crossed the Mississippi and a vast swamp. "The
difficulties we had to encounter," says Griffin, "were almost incredible." Coming to a place where