Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.@1 Samuel 3:10
Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

Charles Wes­ley, Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems, 1740. The orig­in­al ver­sion had an ad­di­tion­al first stan­za that be­gan, Sav­iour, Who rea­dy art to hear. The cur­rent ver­sion first ap­peared in the Wes­ley Hymn Book, 1780. Wes­ley’s text may have been in­spired by Mil­ton’s Par­adise Lost, Book IV, lines 639-40:

With thee conversing, I forget all time,
All seasons and their change; all please alike.

So­ho, Jo­seph Barn­by, 1881 (MIDI, NWC, PDF).

Joseph Barnby (1838-1896)

Talk with us, Lord, Thyself reveal,
While here o’er earth we rove;
Speak to our hearts, and let us feel
The kindling of Thy love.

With Thee conversing, we forget
All time, and toil, and care;
Labor is rest, and pain is sweet,
If Thou, my God, art here.

Here, then, my God, vouchsafe to stay,
And bid my heart rejoice;
My bounding heart shall own Thy sway,
And echo to Thy voice.

Thou callest me to seek Thy face,
’Tis all I wish to seek;
To attend the whispers of Thy grace,
And hear Thee inly speak.

Let this my every hour employ,
Till I Thy glory see;
Enter into my master’s joy,
And find my heaven in Thee.