And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.
Ver. 17. And they say unto him, We have here] And were therefore ready to say with Nicodemus, "How can this be?" Christ hath said, "Give ye them to eat," to try them only, as St John Joh 6:6 hath it. And upon trial, he found them full of dross, as appears by their answer. But the comfort is, he hath promised to try his people indeed, but not as silver, Isaiah 48:10; lest they should not bear any so exact a trial, as having more dross in them than good ore. And where he finds any the least grain of true grace, he cherisheth and enhanceth it, by a further partaking of his holiness. The disciples here were as yet very carnal, and spake as men, 1 Corinthians 3:3. They were ready to limit the Holy One, and say with those of old, "Can he prepare a table in the wilderness?" They measured him by their model, and looked, as Naaman did, upon Jordan with Syrian eyes. This was their fault, and must be our warning; that when we think of God, we shut out Hagar and set up Sarah, silence our reason and exalt our faith; which killeth and quelleth distrustful fear, and believes against sense in things invisible, and against reason in things incredible.
But five loaves and two fishes] Tyrabosco was hardly driven, when from these five loaves and two fishes he concluded seven sacraments: two, belike, of God's making, and five of the baker's. So Cenalis, Bishop of Auranches, would prove the Church of Rome the true Church, because it had bells by which their assemblies be ordinarily called together: but the Church of the Lutherans was reported to be congregated by claps of harquebuses a and pistols; and so makes a long antithesis, by the which he would make good, the bells are the makers of the true Church. As that bells do sound, the other crack: bells open heaven, the other hell, &c.
a The early type of portable gun, varying in size from a small cannon to a musket, which on account of its weight was, when used in the field, supported upon a tripod, trestle, or other ‘carriage', and afterwards upon a forked ‘rest'. The name in German and Flemish meant literally ‘hook-gun', from the hook cast along with the piece, ŒD