Bishop J.C. Ryle
What Is It?
"If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." - Exod. xxxiii. 15
There is a word in the text that heads this page which demands the attention of all English Christians in this day. That word is "presence." There is a religious subject bound up with that word, on which it is most important to have clear, distinct, and scriptural views. That subject is the "presence of God," and specially the "presence of our Lord Jesus Christ" with Christian people. What is that presence? Where is that presence? What is the nature of that presence? To these questions I propose to supply answers.
I. I shall consider, firstly, the general doctrine of God's presence in the world.
II. I shall consider, secondly, the special doctrine of Christ's real spiritual presence.
III. I shall consider, thirdly, the special doctrine of Christ's real bodily presence.
The whole subject deserves serious thoughts. If we suppose that this is a mere question of controversy which only concerns theological partisans, we have yet much to learn. it is a subject which lies at the very roots of saving religion. It is a subject which is inseparably tied up with one of the most precious articles of the Christian faith. It is a subject about which it is most dangerous to be wrong. An error here may first lead a man to the Church of Rome, and then land him finally in the gulf of infidelity. Surely it is worth while to examine carefully the doctrine of the "presence" of God and of His Christ.
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