Mormon must have been thinking about this time period when he included the following in an epistle to Moroni:
’…have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them?…if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief and all is vain….then has faith ceased also; and awful is the state of man’ (Moroni 7:36-8).
Hugh Nibley
“It is not surprising that their personal experience of things led both Mormon and his son to embrace a completely pessimistic view of the world…True, ‘awful is the state of man’ only if ‘faith has ceased’—but faith has ceased! If men insist that there is no redemption, then, sure enough, ‘they are as though there had been no redemption made’ (Moroni 7:38-39). ’If these things have ceased,’ says Moroni speaking of gifts of the Spirit (Moroni 7:37), ’wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.’ This is no mere figure of speech; if faith fulfills its own prophecies so does unbelief, and those who insist that all is vain are quite right; if men reject the gospel they will find everywhere powerful confirmation for their unbelief, and undeniable evidence to support their contention that the human predicament is hopeless.” (Since Cumorah, p. 401)
Joseph Smith
“Have not the pride, high-mindedness, and unbelief of the Gentiles, provoked the Holy One of Israel to withdraw His Holy Spirit from them, and send forth His judgments to scourge them for their wickedness? This is certainly the case…The Lord declared to His servants, some eighteen months since [the Church was organized], that He was then withdrawing His Spirit from the earth (See DC 1); and we can see that such is the fact, for not only the churches are dwindling away, but there are no conversions, or but very few: and this is not all, the governments of the earth are thrown into confusion and division; and Destruction, to the eye of the spiritual beholder, seems to be written by the finger of an invisible hand, in large capitals, upon almost every thing we behold.” (History of the Church, 1:314)