2 Kings 6:1

And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.

Ver. 1. The place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.] Our college is so crowded, that unless some course be taken, some of us shall be necessitated to lie out of doors; as bees hang out of the hive's mouth on heaps, through lack of room within. This access to the number of the young prophets was in the days of idolatrous Jehoram. Plures efficimur quoties metimur, a said the old Christians. The Church, like the palm tree, the more it is pressed with weight, the more it fructifieth: like the camomile plant, it flourisheth when most trodden: like the lily, it groweth by its own tears, as Pliny hath it. Fish thrive better in cold and salt waters, than in warm and fresh: the ground is most fruitful that is most harrowed: the walnut tree beareth best when most beaten, &c. Elisha's fame might draw more resort to him, and, as the Hebrews say, Gehazi's removal, who grumbled that the young prophets should partake of the provision brought in by good people to his master Elisha, in those hard times.

a Tertullian.