« back to search

"Parents may, perhaps, paint it to themselves: they may see (through the mirror of a sympathetic fancy) the poor widow receiving her child from the healing hand of the prophet--a child fresh blooming in the beauties of a second birth."

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Author

Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Work Title

The Sublime and Beautiful of Scripture: Being Essays on Select Passages of Sacred Composition

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed for J. Murray

Date

1777

Metaphor

"Parents may, perhaps, paint it to themselves: they may see (through the mirror of a sympathetic fancy) the poor widow receiving her child from the healing hand of the prophet--a child fresh blooming in the beauties of a second birth."

Metaphor in Context

The prayer was heard. In the mean time, in what a situation must he have left the afflicted parent! it was however, one of those sorrows which are compensated by a reverse of joy: the transition was almost instantaneous; for when the babe began to revive, he brought it down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered it into the desiring arms of its weeping mother. Were words ever calculated to express such a stroke of transport? it must have been a bliss which trod hard upon the very heels of agony. Parents may, perhaps, paint it to themselves: they may see (through the mirror of a sympathetic fancy) the poor widow receiving her child from the healing hand of the prophet--a child fresh blooming in the beauties of a second birth.--They may imagine they behold the joyful woman as it were in a frenzy of felicity, kneeling, first to the invisible restorer, then to Elijah, and last bathing the cheek of the child with tears of tenderness, unutterable. The prophet, indeed, said little; for language was unnecessary; the thing spoke for itself, the lovely eye was again gently opened on the light, the dimple resumed its residence, and all its little sensibilities were fully restored. "See" cried Elijah,--"thy son liveth." He submitted the truth of the assertion (without any tedious explanation of the means by which the recovery had been effected) to the pleasing evidence of her own senses. He had now fully rewarded her former kindness, and evinced his gratitude for the division of her last meal, by raising the treasure of her soul, even from the dead. I shall say no more on this charming story, but just observe, that every gentle heart will have its own commentary, and pursue the hints I have given, till they have long indulged themselves in the elegant reflection which so masterly and interesting a scene excites.
(II, pp. 131-4)