Read Online Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: James Baldwin
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now mounted to the pulpit to dust the three thronelike chairs, purple, with white linen squares for the headpieces and for the massive arms. It dominated all, the pulpit: a wooden platform raised above the congregation, with a high stand in the center for the Bible, before which the preacher stood. There faced the congregation, flowing downward from this height, the scarlet altar cloth that bore the golden cross and the legend: JESUS SAVES . The pulpit was holy. None could stand so high unless God’s seal was on him.
He dusted the piano and sat down on the piano stool to wait until Elisha had finished mopping one side of the church and he could replace the chairs. Suddenly Elisha said, without looking at him:
“Boy, ain’t it time you was thinking about your soul?”
“I guess so,” John said with a quietness that terrified him.
“I know it looks hard,” said Elisha, “from the outside, especially when you young. But you believe me, boy, you can’t find no greater joy than you find in the service of the Lord.”
John said nothing. He touched a black key on the piano and it made a dull sound, like a distant drum.
“You got to remember,” Elisha said, turning now to look at him, “that you think about it with a carnal mind. You still got Adam’s mind, boy, and you keep thinking about your friends, you want to do what they do, and you want to go to the movies, and I bet you think about girls, don’t you, Johnny? Sure you do,” he said, half smiling, finding his answer in John’s face, “and you don’t want to give up all that. But when the Lord saves you He burns out all that old Adam, He gives you a new mind and a new heart, and then you don’t find no pleasure in the world, you get all your joy in walking and talking with Jesus every day.”
He stared in a dull paralysis of terror at the body of Elisha. Hesaw him standing—had Elisha forgotten?—beside Ella Mae before the altar while Father James rebuked him for the evil that lived in the flesh. He looked into Elisha’s face, full of questions he would never ask. And Elisha’s face told him nothing.
“People say it’s hard,” said Elisha, bending again to his mop, “but, let me tell you, it ain’t as hard as living in this wicked world and all the sadness of the world where there ain’t no pleasure nohow, and then dying and going to Hell. Ain’t nothing as hard as that.” And he looked back at John. “You see how the Devil tricks people into losing their souls?”
“Yes,” said John at last, sounding almost angry, unable to bear his thoughts, unable to bear the silence in which Elisha looked at him.
Elisha grinned. “They got girls in the school I go to”—he was finished with one side of the church and he motioned to John to replace the chairs—“and they nice girls, but their minds ain’t on the Lord, and I try to tell them the time to repent ain’t tomorrow, it’s today. They think ain’t no sense to worrying now, they can sneak into Heaven on their deathbed. But I tell them, honey, ain’t everybody lies down to die—people going all the time, just like that, today you see them and tomorrow you don’t. Boy, they don’t know what to make of old Elisha because he don’t go to the movies, and he don’t dance, and he don’t play cards, and he don’t go with them behind the stairs.” He paused and stared at John, who watched him helplessly, not knowing what to say. “And boy, some of them is real nice girls, I mean
beautiful
girls, and when you got so much power that
they
don’t tempt you then you know you saved sure enough. I just look at them and I tell them Jesus saved me one day, and I’m going to go all the way with
Him
. Ain’t no woman, no, nor no man neither going to make me change my mind.” He paused again, and smiled and dropped his eyes. “That Sunday,” he said, “that Sunday, you remember?—when Father got up in the pulpit and called me and Ella Mae down because he thought we was about to
He dusted the piano and sat down on the piano stool to wait until Elisha had finished mopping one side of the church and he could replace the chairs. Suddenly Elisha said, without looking at him:
“Boy, ain’t it time you was thinking about your soul?”
“I guess so,” John said with a quietness that terrified him.
“I know it looks hard,” said Elisha, “from the outside, especially when you young. But you believe me, boy, you can’t find no greater joy than you find in the service of the Lord.”
John said nothing. He touched a black key on the piano and it made a dull sound, like a distant drum.
“You got to remember,” Elisha said, turning now to look at him, “that you think about it with a carnal mind. You still got Adam’s mind, boy, and you keep thinking about your friends, you want to do what they do, and you want to go to the movies, and I bet you think about girls, don’t you, Johnny? Sure you do,” he said, half smiling, finding his answer in John’s face, “and you don’t want to give up all that. But when the Lord saves you He burns out all that old Adam, He gives you a new mind and a new heart, and then you don’t find no pleasure in the world, you get all your joy in walking and talking with Jesus every day.”
He stared in a dull paralysis of terror at the body of Elisha. Hesaw him standing—had Elisha forgotten?—beside Ella Mae before the altar while Father James rebuked him for the evil that lived in the flesh. He looked into Elisha’s face, full of questions he would never ask. And Elisha’s face told him nothing.
“People say it’s hard,” said Elisha, bending again to his mop, “but, let me tell you, it ain’t as hard as living in this wicked world and all the sadness of the world where there ain’t no pleasure nohow, and then dying and going to Hell. Ain’t nothing as hard as that.” And he looked back at John. “You see how the Devil tricks people into losing their souls?”
“Yes,” said John at last, sounding almost angry, unable to bear his thoughts, unable to bear the silence in which Elisha looked at him.
Elisha grinned. “They got girls in the school I go to”—he was finished with one side of the church and he motioned to John to replace the chairs—“and they nice girls, but their minds ain’t on the Lord, and I try to tell them the time to repent ain’t tomorrow, it’s today. They think ain’t no sense to worrying now, they can sneak into Heaven on their deathbed. But I tell them, honey, ain’t everybody lies down to die—people going all the time, just like that, today you see them and tomorrow you don’t. Boy, they don’t know what to make of old Elisha because he don’t go to the movies, and he don’t dance, and he don’t play cards, and he don’t go with them behind the stairs.” He paused and stared at John, who watched him helplessly, not knowing what to say. “And boy, some of them is real nice girls, I mean
beautiful
girls, and when you got so much power that
they
don’t tempt you then you know you saved sure enough. I just look at them and I tell them Jesus saved me one day, and I’m going to go all the way with
Him
. Ain’t no woman, no, nor no man neither going to make me change my mind.” He paused again, and smiled and dropped his eyes. “That Sunday,” he said, “that Sunday, you remember?—when Father got up in the pulpit and called me and Ella Mae down because he thought we was about to
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