“It is appropriate that these letters [Moroni 8, 9] follow Mormon’s sermon on faith, hope, and charity [Moroni 7] because they put the essence of that sermon to the test … .
“Mormon’s first letter is like a Pauline epistle in giving counsel to help regulate the Church … .
“In harmony with his argument and his previously quoted sermon, Mormon’s dominant characteristic revealed in this letter is love … .
“The second letter reveals the full strength of Mormon’s position. His people, he says, ‘have lost their love, one towards another; and they thirst after blood and revenge continually’ (Moro. 9:5). Yet Mormon preserves his ‘perfect love’ (Moro. 8:16) and remains uncontaminated by the evil around him” (Rust, Feasting on the Word, 163–64).