saints members of the Church of the Fire Baptized who have been saved.
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego the three biblical captives who came out of the fiery furnace miraculously unharmed: Daniel 3:12–27.
Slaves done ris "Slaves have risen," a reference to a slave revolt at another plantation in which one or more slaves had turned against an oppressor.
sleep-in job a job in which the worker is provided with room and board on the premises, as in the case of a live-in maid.
speaking in tongues glossolalia, ecstatic utterance of usually unintelligible speechlike sounds, as in a religious assembly, viewed by some as a manifestation of deep religious experience.
squalling crying or screaming loudly and harshly.
stable the group of women who work in a brothel, a house of prostitution.
switch a thin flexible twig or stick used for whipping.
Tarry Service Saturday evening service in which the churchgoers wait for the Lord to speak to them.
tarry to wait: in this context, to wait for the Lord.
testify to bear witness to; affirm; declare.
Testimony public avowal, as of faith or of a religious experience.
threshing floor Traditionally an area in which grain is beaten from its husks; here it is an area in the church where the saints pray. Metaphorically, it represents separating the sinners and the saved, just as the chaff is separated from wheat and is an allusion to the biblical passage, "His [God's] winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12)."
the throne God's throne; here a church altar.
