And so the sinner will then “run to the mountain,” and “De mountain fly open” or “De mountain cry mercy.” The sinner must needs be hopeless at his death and there is neither mercy nor pity for him. It is the idea of the negro that at the great day “we won’t be bothered with them any mo’”. A sad picture he makes of the poor, and forsaken man who dies “with achin’ heart”, with “weary min’”, and with his “head hung down”. Consequently it is not surprising to find appeals of all sorts made to the sinner man; now he is told of his doom, now of possible salvation, now of the joys of being saved, now of immediate satisfaction. Sung like the above song is “Come, sinner, come”.
Won’t you come, won’t you come?
Come, sinner, come;
Great day of wrath is comin’,
Come, sinner, come.
Look over yonder what I see;
Come, sinner, come;
Two tall angels comin’ after me,
Come, sinner, come.
In the same manner he sings, “Won’t you come an’ see yo’ Lord?” and “Ole Satan like a snake in de grass, Always in some sister’s path,” “Ole Satan weahs mighty loose ole shoe, Ef you don’t min’ gwine slip it on you”. “Up on hill side King Jesus spoke, Out of his mouth come fier an’ smoke”, “Down in de valley, down on my knees, Ask de Lord to save me if He please”, and others. The plantation song asked,
O whar you runnin’, sinner?
I do love de Lord;
De Judgment day is comin’,
I do love de Lord;
You’ll see de worl’ on fire,
I do love de Lord;
You’ll see de element a meltin’,
I do love de Lord.
Besides these stanzas there were sung the various other warnings such as have been given in the idea of Judgment and Resurrection already noted. In the old slave song the sinner asks:
My Lord, My Lord, what shall I do?
An’ heaven bell ring an’ praise God.
What shall I do for hiding place?
I run to de sea but de sea run dry.
I run to de gate but de gate shut fast.
No hiding place for sinner dere.
For I am gone an’ sent to hell.
Instead of the regular refrain which is sung by the chorus of voices in response to a line by the leader, the negroes often respond with “um-m’” in a general mingling of chant, humming, and “amens”. For the most part they do this with closed lips; the volume is surprisingly strong, however, and makes a stirring effect. The meaning of the expression is something like “Yes?” or “Of course, we know it is true” or “Sure, you talkin’ brother”. The singer says: “I look for Jesus all my days”, and the chorus answers, “um-u’” and he then continues,
An’ when I found him this is what he said,
um-u’
Yo’ sin forgiven an’ you soul set free,
um-u’
I pray all night, an’ I pray all day, um-u’ um-u’,
Then my Lord taken my sins away, um-u’, um-u’.
Nex’ day, nex’ day while walkin’ along, um-u’, um-u’,
I heard a voice an’ saw no one, um-u’, um-u’,
It said, sinner man, you better come home, um-u’, um-u’.
One day I was walkin’ long dat lonesome road, um-u’, um-u’,
King Jesus spoke unto me an’ lifted off dat load, um-u’.
Again, “Brother, you’d Better be a Prayin’”, while mostly repetition makes a long song when sung to its limit. “Sister”, “Sinner”, “Backslider”, “Mourner”, “Children”, each serves to make a complete stanza of eight lines:
Brother you’d better be a prayin’,
Brother, you’d better be a prayin’,
My brother, you’d better be a prayin’,
An’ I’ll be carried above,
An’ I’ll be carried above,
An’ I’ll be carried above,
I’ll see king Jesus in his reign,
An’ I’ll be carried above.