s: "And he shall
give you another comforter" (Greek "another Paraclete," John, xiv, 16).

Nay, since every church is consecrated equally in the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, without any difference in
their possession thereof, why should not the house of God be
dedicated to the Father or to the Holy Spirit, even as it is to the
Son? Who would presume to erase from above the door the name of him
who is the master of the house? And since the Son offered Himself
as a sacrifice to the Father, and accordingly in the ceremonies of
the mass the prayers are offered particularly to the Father, and
the immolation of the Host is made to Him, why should the altar not
be held to be chiefly His to whom above all the supplication and
sacrifice are made? Is it not called more rightly the altar of Him
who receives than of Him who makes the sacrifice? Who would admit
that an altar is that of the Holy Cross, or of the Sepulchre, or of
St. Michael, or John, or Peter, or of any other saint, unless
either he himself was sacrificed there or else special sacrifices
and prayers are made there to him? Methinks the altars and temples
of certain ones among these saints are not held to be idolatrous
even though they are used for special sacrifices and prayers to
their patrons.

Some, however, may perchance argue that churches are not built or
altars dedicated to the Father because there is no feast which is
solemnized especially for Him. But while this reasoning holds good
as regards the Trinity itself, it does not apply in the case of the
Holy Spirit. For this Spirit, from the day of Its advent, has had
Its special feast of the Pentecost, even as the Son has had since
His coming upon earth His feast of the Nativity. Even as the Son
was sent into this world, so did the Holy Spirit descend upon the
disciples, and thus does It claim Its special religious rites. Nay,
it seems more fitting to dedicate a temple to It than to either of
the other Persons of the Trinity, if we but carefully study the
apostolic authority, and consider the workings of this Spirit
Itself. To none of the three Persons did the apostle dedicate a
special temple save to the Holy Spirit alone. He does not speak of
a temple of the Father, or a temple of the Son, as he does of a
temple of the Holy Spirit, writing thus in his first epistle to the
Corinthians: "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."
(I Cor. vi, 17). And again: "What? know ye not that