'Jesus, The Very Thought Of Thee.'

The author is probably St. Bernard, the abbot of Clairvaux and the great preacher of the Second Crusade. Few men in Christendom have ever exercised a personal influence equal to his.

These quartrains are selected from a hymn composed of fifty such, and familiar to English-speaking Christians from Caswall's translation, Jesus, the very Thought of Thee, and Ray Palmer's Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts. It was a favorite of Livingstone who quotes from it in his African Diary. 'No other poem in any language,' says Julian, 'has furnished to English and American hymn-books so many hymns of sterling worth and well-deserved popularity.'

Subject, Jesus.

1-4. Iesu: vocative. We would expect das instead of dans and tui instead of eius. Supply est with praesentia.

13-16.

Thou bliss of souls in bitter need, Water to lip and light to eye, All joy thou dost how far exceed, All yearning more than satisfy.

ROBERT II, KING OF FRANCE.

971-1031 A.D.