=28.= Then, some time after the Church had been duly organized, authority for certain special functions was given, the appointing messenger being in each case the one whose right it was so to officiate by virtue of the commission which he had held in the days of his mortality. Thus, as has been seen, Moses conferred the authority to prosecute the work of gathering; and Elijah, who, not having tasted death, held a peculiar relation to both the living and the dead, delivered the authority of vicarious ministry for the departed. To these appointments by heavenly authority should be added that given by Elias, who appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and "committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham," saying as was said of the Father of the Faithful and his descendants in olden times, that in them and in their seed should all succeeding generations be blessed.[38]
=29.= It is evident, then, that the claims made by the Church with respect to its authority are complete and consistent as to the source of the powers professed, and the channels through which such have been delivered again to earth. Scripture and revelation, both ancient and modern, support as an unalterable law the principle that no one can delegate to another an authority which the giver does not possess.
=30. III. Joseph Smith was himself a true Prophet.=--This statement, if fully substantiated, would be of itself sufficient proof of the validity of the claims of this modern prophet, and the test is not difficult of application. In the days of ancient Israel, an effective method of trying the claims of a professed prophet was prescribed:-- "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously; thou shalt not be afraid of him."[39] Conversely, if the words of the prophet are made good by fulfilment, there is at least proof presumptive of his genuineness. Of the many predictions uttered by Joseph Smith and already fulfilled or awaiting the set time of their realization, a few citations will suffice for our present purpose.
=31.= One of the earliest prophecies declared by him, which, while not his independent utterance but that of the angel Moroni, was nevertheless given to the world by Joseph Smith, had special reference to the Book of Mormon, of which the angel said: "The knowledge that this record contains will go to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, under the whole heaven."[40] This declaration was made four years before the work of translation was begun, and fourteen years before the elders of the Church began their missionary labor in foreign lands. Since that time the Book of Mormon has been translated into seventeen foreign languages, and is published in fifteen tongues; and the work is still in progress.