Not content with only numbers, but more so in the welfare of those who had lately come into Christ's Church, those holding God's holy Priesthood-we may presume it was the active Elders, Priest, and Teachers-called upon the newcomers, nourishing them by the good word of God, teaching them to pray, and at length if any of them strayed, lead them back to the right path. None who were baptized, were forgotten, but their names were added to the records of the Church, and communion with their brethren was the just reward of righteous living.
Relying not upon their own strength, but on God's Holy Word; not upon merits of their own, but on the worth and excellence of Christ, "Who," Moroni says, "was the author and the finisher of their faith," their thoughts undoubtedly are expressed in the beautiful but simple prayer of the Jews: "Lord of all worlds, not in reliance upon righteousness or merit in ourselves do we lay our supplications before Thee, but trusting in Thine infinite mercy alone. For what are we, what is our life, what our goodness, what our power? What can we say in Thy presence? Are not all the mighty men as naught before Thee, and those of great renown as though they had never been; the wisest as if without knowledge, and men of understanding as if without discernment? Many of our works are vain, and our days pass away like a shadow. Our life would be altogether vanity, were it not for our soul, which fashioned in Thine own image, gives us assurance of our higher destiny and imparts to our fleeting days an abiding value.
"Therefore we beseech Thee, O our God, to help us banish from our hearts all pride and vainglory, all confidence in worldly possessions, all self-sufficient leaning upon our own reason. Fill us with the spirit of meekness and the grace of modesty, that we may become wise in the fear of Thee. May we never forget that all we have and prize is but lent to us, a trust for which we must render account to Thee. O Heavenly Father, put into our hearts the love and fear of Thee, that we may consecrate our lives to Thy service and glorify thy Name in the eyes of all men." (Union Prayer Book)