The Real Presence: What Is It?

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.