brosparky

It's actually the recitation of old Chinese fable, repeated here by Elder Carlos E. Asay quoting George A. Smith: “A man travelling through the country came to a large city, very rich and splendid; he looked at it and said to his guide, ‘This must be a very righteous people, for I can only see but one little devil in this great city.’ “The guide replied, ‘You do not understand, sir. This city is so perfectly given up to wickedness … that it requires but one devil to keep them all in subjection.’ “Travelling on a little farther, he came to a rugged path and saw an old man trying to get up the hill side, surrounded by seven great, big, coarse-looking devils. “‘Why,’ says the traveller, ‘this must be a tremendously wicked old man! See how many devils there are around him!’ “‘This,’ replied the guide, ‘is the only righteous man in the country; and there are seven of the biggest devils trying to turn him out of his path, and they all cannot do it.’” (Journal of Discourses, 5:363–64.)

I was teaching my teacher's quorum today and felt impressed to share the popular LDS story of a vision/dream by a modern prophet involving a scene where two men are being attacked by evil spirits. The first man is assailed by a single spirit, while the second man is being tormented by multiple spirits. The speaker remarks to a companion that the second man must be quite wicked to have drawn the attention of so many evil spirits, to which his companions replies "no, the second man is under attack because he is the more righteous of the two." I was bummed that I couldn't recall the source of the story or provide more particular details. No one in my immediate circle can precisely recall the source either. Anyone out here know who this story can be properly attributed to? My memory attributed it to Joseph F. Smith, but I came up empty on my Google search... Many thanks in advance!!!