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And Let This Feeble Body Fail/Hallelujah
Shape-Note Gospel by William Walker; Word for verse: Charles Wesley 1759
ARTIST: William Walker; 1835
CATEGORY: Traditional Shape-Note Gospel;
DATE: 1759 Wesley; 1835 William Walker
RECORDING INFO: And Let This Feeble Body Fail (Hallelujah); Shape note hymns sung at the Berea College Sacred Harp Singing Convention 1983
OTHER NAMES: "Prodigal," "Prodigal Son"
SOURCES: Southern Harmony
NOTES: Meter: C.M. Listed under the title Hallelujah [1] in Southern Harmony no. 107
First Line: And let this feeble body fail; Composer: Wm. Walker.
A version was recorded at the Berea College Sacred Harp Singing Convention 1983
and can be heard online at Digital Appalachia.
AND LET THIS FEEBLE BODY FAIL- Wesley/Walker
1. And let this feeble body fail,
And let it faint and die;
My soul shall quit the mournful vale,
And soar to worlds on high;
Refrain:
And I'll sing hallelujah,
And you'll sing hallelujah,
And we'll all sing hallelujah,
When we arrive at home.
“I see a band of spirits bright” was sung by Tom in Uncle Tom's Cabin to an 1852 Hymn Book #702, Wesley's “And let this feeble body fail.”
Tom sung the words of a well-known Methodist hymn,
"I see a band of spirits bright,
That taste the glories there;
They all are robed in spotless white,
And conquering palms they bear."
Below are Wesley's complete lyrics: Charles Wesley (1707-1788) Words: Charles Wesley, Funeral Hymns, second series, 1759. Music: Rex Regum, John Stainer (1840-1901) .
And let this feeble body fail,
And let it droop and die;
My soul shall quit the mournful vale,
And soar to worlds on high;
Shall join the disembodied saints,
And find its long sought rest,
That only bliss for which it pants,
In my Redeemer’s breast.
In hope of that immortal crown
I now the cross sustain,
And gladly wander up and down,
And smile at toil and pain:
I suffer out my threescore years,
Till my Deliverer come,
And wipe away His servant’s tears,
And take His exile home.
O what hath Jesus bought for me!
Before my ravished eyes
Rivers of life divine I see,
And trees of paradise:
I see a world of spirits bright,
Who taste the pleasures there;
They all are robed in spotless white,
And conquering palms they bear.
O what are all my sufferings here,
If, Lord, Thou count me meet
With that enraptured host to appear,
And worship at Thy feet!
Give joy or grief, give ease or pain,
Take life or friends away,
But let me find them all again
In that eternal day.
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