Moroni², son of Mormon, was the last Nephite prophet, historian, and military commander, and the writer who finished and sealed up the record. After the battle at Cumorah, the surviving Nephites were hunted down and destroyed; his father was killed, along with all his kinsfolk, leaving Moroni alone, four hundred years after the coming of Christ (Mormon 8:3,5). He wrote that he did not know whether the Lamanites would slay him, that he had no friends and nowhere to go, and that he would write and hide up the records in the earth (Mormon 8:3-5).
Moroni finished the record his father had begun, with few things left to write and no ore, and stated that he was the one who hid up the record unto the Lord (Mormon 8:1, 14). He abridged the Jaredite account taken from the twenty-four plates found by the people of Limhi, which he called the Book of Ether (Ether 1:1-2), and added the Book of Moroni, sealing up the records before closing (Moroni 10:2). In it he included two epistles from his father Mormon: one on faith, hope, and charity, which includes the statement that Christ has ascended and sat down at the right hand of God to claim of the Father his rights of mercy upon the children of men (Moroni 7:1, 27); and one written soon after Moroni’s calling to the ministry that argued against the baptism of little children (Moroni 8:1). That second epistle closes with a sequential account of the path to salvation: the first fruits of repentance is baptism; fulfilling the commandments brings remission of sins; remission brings meekness and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart comes the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which fills with hope and perfect love that endures by diligence unto prayer until all the saints shall dwell with God (Moroni 8:25-26).
Moroni feared the Gentiles would mock the writing because of its weakness, saying the Lord had made the Nephites mighty in word but not in writing, unlike the brother of Jared (Ether 12:23-25). The Lord answered that his grace was sufficient for the meek, that he gives men weakness so they may be humble, and that he will make weak things strong to those who humble themselves and have faith in him (Ether 12:27).
Moroni invited those who would receive the record to ask God whether it is true, with a sincere heart and real intent, and promised that by the power of the Holy Ghost they may know the truth of all things (Moroni 10:4-5).
As a resurrected messenger, Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith on the night of September 21, 1823, naming himself and describing a book written on gold plates and the Urim and Thummim deposited with it, then directed him to the hill near Manchester, New York, where the plates lay in a stone box. Joseph was forbidden to remove them for four years and returned to the same place each year to meet Moroni and receive instruction (Joseph Smith—History 1:27-60).