Acts 14:17 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

He left not himself without witness,— Though left to the heathen dispensation,theGentileswereculpablefortheir idolatry, and other abuses of the light afforded them, inasmuch as the works of creation always manifest the being of the true God; and it is a plain evidence of his goodness, power, and providence, in that he, the one true God, is the author of all good, and sendeth rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons to the just and unjust; not only providing necessaries for mankind, but filling their hearts with joy and gladness, and thereby inviting sinners to repent and hope for mercy. The author of "Nature Displayed"observes very pleasingly, that, as a friend, in sending us frequent presents, expresses his remembrance of us, and affection to us, though he neither speak nor write; so all the gifts of the divine bounty, which are scattered abroad on every side, are so many witnesses sent to attest the divine care and goodness, and speak it in a very sensiblelanguage to the heart, though not to the ear. Aratus, a pagan poet, asserts particularly, that "rain is given from God:" and as St. Paul was conversant in these writings, has quoted this very poet in another speech, and was addressing himself to persons who might be no strangers to this author, his speech, among other things, may in a distant manner allude to that passage. Dr. Hammond mentions a Jewish proverb upon this place, "That thekeys of life, rain, and the resurrection, were always kept in God's own hand," by which they seem to have looked upon rain as much an incommunicable attribute of God, as either the giving or restoring of life. Hence it is frequently stiled, "the power of rain," because it descends not but by power, and it is one of the things in which the power of God shews itself. See Matthew 5:45 and Jeremiah 14:22.