Page:Ante-Nicene Christian Library Vol 5.djvu/323

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Book iii.]
IRENÆUS AGAINST HERESIES.
297

be chosen by God, thus addressed those who were present: "Men [and] brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, spake before concerning Judas, which was made guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us:[1] … Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein;[2] and, His bishoprick let another take;"[3]—thus leading to the completion of the apostles, according to the words spoken by David. Again, when the Holy Ghost had descended upon the disciples, that they all might prophesy and speak with tongues, and some mocked them, as if drunken with new wine, Peter said that they were not drunken, for it was the third hour of the day; but that this was what had been spoken by the prophet: "It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and they shall prophesy."[4] The God, therefore, who did promise by the prophet, that He would send His Spirit upon the whole human race, was He who did send; and God Himself is announced by Peter as having fulfilled His own promise.

2. For Peter said, "Ye men of Israel, hear my words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God among you by powers, and wonders, and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, by the hands of wicked men ye have slain, affixing [to the cross]: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of them. For David speaketh concerning Him,[5] I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for He is on my right hand, lest I should be moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also, my flesh shall rest in hope: because Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption."[6] Then he proceeds to speak confidently to them concerning the patriarch David, that he was dead and buried, and that

  1. Acts i. 16, etc.
  2. Ps. lxix. 25.
  3. Ps. cix. 8.
  4. Joel ii. 28.
  5. Ps. xv. 8.
  6. Acts ii. 22–27.