A Prayer for the Mourner's Bench (1867)
An Anonymous "Colored" Woman
O Father Almighty, O sweet Jesus, most glorified King, will you be so pleased to come dis way and put you eye on dese poor mourners? O sweet Jesus, ain't you the Daniel God? Didn't you deliber de tree [three] chillun from the fiery furnis? Didn't you heah [hear] Jonah cry in de belly ub de whale? O, if dere be one seekin' mourner her dis afternoon, if dere be one sinkin' Peter, if dere be one weepin' Mary, if dere be one doubtin' Thomas, won't you be pleased to come and deliber 'em? Won't you mount your Gosepl hoss, an' ride roun' de souls of dese yere mourners, and say, "Go in peace and sin no moah?" Don't you be so pleased to come wid de love in one han' and de fan in de odder han', to fan away doubts? Won't you be so pleased to shake dese here souls over hell, an' not let 'em fall in! [Amen.]
- James Melvin Washington, Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans, (New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers), 1994.
- James Melvin Washington, Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans, (New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers), 1994.
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