Scripture Verse

Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth. 1 Samuel 3:10

Introduction

Words: Sa­rah G. Stock; writ­ten for In­dia’s Wo­men, and first sung at the Va­le­dic­to­ry Meet­ing of the Church of Eng­land Ze­na­na So­ci­ety, Oc­to­ber 2, 1888.

Music: St. Ed­ith Jus­tin H. Knecht, 1799, & Ed­ward Hus­band, 1871 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Justin H. Knecht (1752–1817)

Lyrics

O Mas­ter, when Thou call­est,
No voice may say Thee nay,
For blest are they that fol­low
Where Thou dost lead the way;
In fresh­est prime of morn­ing,
Or full­est glow of noon,
The note of hea­ven­ly warn­ing
Can ne­ver come too soon.

O Mas­ter, when Thou call­est,
No heart may dare re­fuse;
’Tis hon­or, high­est hon­or,
When Thou dost deign to use;
Our bright­est and our fair­est,
Our dear­est—all are thine;
Thou who for each one car­est,
We hail Thy love’s de­sign.