In 1781, Michael Bruce, a Scottish minister, penned the following hymn as a paraphrase of Hebrews 4:14-16:
Where high the heavenly temple stands,
the house of God not made with hands,
a great High Priest our nature wears,
Jesus, the Son of God, appears.
He who for us our surety stood,
and poured on earth his precious blood,
pursues in heaven his mighty plan,
eternal God and Son of Man.
Though now ascended up on high,
he bends on earth a brother's eye;
partaker of the human name,
he knows the frailty of our frame.
Our fellow-sufferer yet retains
a fellow-feeling of our pains;
and still remembers in the skies
his tears, his agonies and cries.
In every pang that rends the heart
the Man of Sorrows has a part;
he sympathises with our grief,
and to the sufferer sends relief.
With boldness, therefore, at the throne,
let us make all our sorrows known;
and ask the aid of heavenly power
to help us in the evil hour.
ALEXANDER ARRELL