Therefore he that speaketh unrighteous things cannot be hid: neither shall vengeance, when it punisheth, pass by him.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Do not think, therefore, that God is in a particular place! He is with you, and he will be as you are. What does it mean, "He will be as you are"? He will be good if you are good, and he will seem bad to you if you are bad. If you are good, he will help you, but he will avenge himself if you are wicked. You have the judge within you. When you want to do evil, you withdraw from the town square to your house, where no enemy can see you. From the rooms of your house that are open and can be seen by others, you go into your own room. And even if in your room you fear indiscreet eyes, you hide in your heart, and there, within, you weave your plot. God is within you more deeply than your very heart. Wherever you flee to, he is there. - "Expositions of the Psalms 74.9"
Divinely inspired, he speaks thus of the Holy Sprit: "Because the Spirit of the Lord fills the world, he embraces all things and knows what is said." One understands, moreover, that here the Scripture refers to the voice of the heart, not of the body. That is, not to the voice of speech among living beings, but that of one"s most hidden thoughts, that resounding voice that only God hears, since he alone sees the one who ponders secretly. Thus he continues, "Therefore, no one who utters unrighteous things can remain hidden, nor will he be spared his chastening judgment." To show further in what this wicked speech consists, so that it would be understood more as the expression of the conscience than of the tongue, the holy Scripture then explains, "There will be an inquiry into the reflections of the godless." I have said this because it says of the Holy Spirit, "because he encompasses all things, he knows what is said." Given that he encompasses all things, the Holy Spirit is not inferi...
