Let us pass on to another aspect of the teaching of
Marcion. He was not content to deny that Jahveh
was the good God who reveals himself in Jesus. He
equally denied the visible, sensible world to be the
work of this good God. Here again he touched on a
problem which more and more exercises the mind of
our own generation, rendering impossible the old
facile optimism of Catholic Christianity. The question
forces itself on us : Can we, apart from man and the
higher animals, especially the mammals, in some of
which we discern the rudiments of a conscience* detect
anywhere in nature the workings of a mind actuated
by love and mercy? Our race has been able to
establish a foothold on this earth late in its geological
development. But our tenure is frail and precarious ;
and our origins were as much or as little the result of
accident as the emergence of any other form of life.
