=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. [39] Deut. xviii, 22. =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. [40] Times and Seasons, Vol. II, No. 13. =32.= In August, 1842, while the Church was suffering persecution in Illinois, and when the western part of the continent was but little known and only as the territory of an alien nation, Joseph Smith prophesied "that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction, and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains," and that while many then professing allegiance to the Church would apostatize, and others, faithful to their testimony, would meet the martyr's fate, some would live to "assist in making settlements and build cities and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains."[41] The literal fulfilment of this prediction, uttered in 1842, and it may be added, foreshadowed by an earlier prophecy in 1831,[42] the one five, the other sixteen years before the migration of the Church to the West, is attested by the common history of the settlement and development of this once inhospitable region. Even the skeptic and the pronounced opponents of the Church admit the miracle of the establishment of a mighty commonwealth in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains. [41] Millennial Star, Vol. XIX, p. 630. Also Hist. of the Ch., Vol. V, p. 85. [42] Doc. and Cov. xlix, 24-25.