“Whom He will He setteth up, and whom He will He casteth down.”  Doubt and Distrust revived this warning in his memory, and seeing that it gave his heart a throb of pain, they set it close to his eyes, so that, for a time, he could see nothing else.  Thus, night after night, these guests troubled his peace, often driving slumber from his eyelids until the late morning watches.  If there had been in his heart that true faith in God which believes in him as doing all things well, Doubt and Distrust might never have gained an entrance.  But he had trusted in himself; had believed himself equal to the task of creating his own prosperity—­had been, in common phrase, the architect of his own fortunes.  And now just as he was pluming himself on success, in crept Doubt and Distrust with their alarming suggestions, and he was unable to cast them out.

Affections, whether evil or good, are social in their character, and obey social laws.  They do not like to dwell alone, and therefore seek congenial friendships.  They draw to themselves companions of like quality, and are not satisfied until they rule a man as to all the powers of his mind.

In the case of Markland, Envy made room for her twin-sister, Detraction; Ill-will, Jealousy, Unkindness, and a teeming brood of their malevolent kindred crowded into his heart, possessing its chambers, ere a warning reached him of their approach.  Is there rest or peace for a man with such guests in his bosom?

Doubt and Distrust only heralded the coming of Fear, Anxiety, Solicitude, Suspicion, Despondency, Foreboding.  Markland had only to open his eyes and look around him, to see, on every hand, the unsightly wrecks of palaces once as fair to the eye as that which he had raised with such labor and forethought, and as he contemplated these, Doubt, Distrust, and their companions, filled his mind with alarming thoughts, and so oppressed him with a sense of insecurity that, at times, he saw the advancing shadows of misfortune on his path.

Thus it was with Markland at fifty.  He had all good as to the externals of life, yet was he a miserable man, and, worse than all, he felt himself growing more and more unhappy as the years increased.  Was there no remedy for this?  None, while his heart was so filled with evil affections, which are always tormentors.  He did not see this.  Though his guests disturbed and afflicted him, he called them friends, and gave them entertainments of the best his house afforded.

Sometimes Pity came to the door of his heart and asked for admission, but he sent Unkindness to double bar it against her.  Generosity knocked, but Avarice stood sentinel.  Envy was forever refusing to let Good-will, Appreciation, Approval, Delight, come in.  Detraction would give no countenance to Virtue and Excellence.  Doubt made deadly assault upon Faith, and Trust, and Hope, whenever they drew near, while Ill-will stood ever on the alert to drive off Charity, Loving-kindness and Neighborly regard.  Unhappy man!  Fiends possessed him, and he knew it not.