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Spirit, Praying and Preaching by

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In the early Church it was customary for the people to pray audibly, and that they might pray in concert the words were dictated to them by the deacon. St. Chrysostom, in his homily (7th, p. 68) on Romans, explaining the words "the Spirit maketh intercession with groanings," etc., says that the gift of prayer was then distinguished by the name of the Spirit, and he that had this gift prayed for the whole congregation. But in his own time, he says, the deacons prayed by ordinary forms, without any such immediate inspiration. As to preaching, all that the fathers pretended to from the assistance of the Spirit was only that ordinary assistance which men may expect from the concurrence of the Spirit with their honest endeavors, as a blessing upon their studies and labors. See Bingham, Christ. Antiq. bk. 13, ch. 6, 9; bk. 14, ch. 4, 12.