under the guidance of Christ, the answer is easy:
Christ is a perpetual guardian, but not visibly. As long as he walked
on the earth he appeared openly as their guardian: now he preserves us
by his Spirit. He calls the Spirit 'another Comforter,' in view of the
distinction which we observe in the blessings proceeding from
each."--_John Calvin_.

{35}

III

THE NAMING OF THE SPIRIT

The Son of God was named by the angel before he was conceived in the
womb: "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins." Thus he came, not to receive a name, but to fulfill
a name already predetermined for him. In like manner was the Holy
Ghost named by our Lord before his advent into the world: "But when the
Paraclete is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father" (John 15:
26). This designation of the Holy Spirit here occurs for the first
time--a new name for the new ministry upon which he is now about to
enter. The reader will find in almost any critical commentary
discussions of the meaning of the word, and of the question of its
right translation, whether by "Comforter," or "Advocate," or "Teacher,"
or "Helper." But the question cannot be fully settled by an appeal to
classical or patristic Greek, for the reason, we believe, that it is a
divinely given name whose real significance must be made manifest in
the actual life and history of the Spirit. The name is the person
himself, and only as we know the person can we interpret his name. Why
{36} attempt then to translate this word any more than we do the name
of Jesus? We might well transfer it into our English version, leaving
the history of the church from the Acts of the Apostles to the
experience of the latest saint to fill into it the great significance
which it was intended to contain. Certain it is that the language of
the Holy Ghost can never be fully understood by an appeal to the
lexicon. The heart of the church is the best dictionary of the Spirit.
While all the before-mentioned synonyms are correct, neither one is
adequate, nor are all together sufficient to bring out the full
significance of this great name, "The Paraclete."

Let us consider, however, how much is suggested by the literal meaning
of this word, "the _Paracletos_" and by all that our Lord says
concerning him in his last discourse. "To call to one's aid," is the
meaning of the verb, _parachaleo_, from which the name is derived.
Very beautiful theref