The slave seculars actually ridiculed the religious perspective of the spirituals. As Sterling Brown reports, some black slaves sang: “I don't want to ride no golden chariot; I don't want no golden crown; I want to stay down here and be, just as I am without one plea.” One father, who is in heaven, White man owe me eleven and pay me seven, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, And if I hadn't took that, I wouldn't had none.18
