“Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 18:19.) Here it is supposed that they agree on what to ask for before they pray. Would it not be a good thing for a group of worshippers to know what they are going to pray for, rather than for someone to lead out in a long, rambling prayer that is supposed to be appropriate to all occasions, and is, therefore, never appropriate to any occasion? Delivering an oration to the Lord, under pretense of praying, is not praying at all. THE OLIVE TREE FIGURE OF ROM. 11 I wish you would give an explanation of Rom. 11. The part that I am the most interested in is the figure of the olive tree. Is there anything in this chapter, or in any other, that teaches that the Jews as a nation will ever accept Christ?—Oklahoma. We cannot at present give space to a discussion of the entire chapter. The verses containing the olive-tree illustration read as follows: But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive, wast grafted in among them, and didst become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree; glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that barest the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee. Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God’s goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou shalt be cut off. And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? (Rom. 11:17-24.) Care should be used in dealing with another man’s illustrations and figures of speech. The language quoted is an illustration of God’s dealings with Jews and Gentiles. Because of unbelief the Jews had been severed from God’s favor; by faith the Gentiles had been brought into union with God. Neither Jew nor Gentile has any special favors from God; the standing of each depends on their faith. That is the point Paul is making, and to make his illustration do service beyond the point illustrated is to do violence to his language.