And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare [thy chariot], and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.
Ver. 44. Behold, there ariseth a little cloud.] This little cloud shall ere long overmask the whole heaven. Every former mercy is a pledge and forerunner of a future and greater, if it be well improved; only we must pray on, and not faint. Luk 18:1 Gregorius Turonensis relateth a the like to have fallen out once at Orleans, upon the prayer of Anianus, bishop there; at what time that city was almost taken by Attilus, king of Hunns, but seasonably rescued, and the siege raised by Aetius and Theodoricus, helped by abundance of rain at that time falling, after the sight of a little cloud, arising out of the earth.
a Lib. ii. cap. 7.