Matthew Cowley

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (October 11, 1945 – December 13, 1953)

General Conference Addresses

• October 1953 General Conference
  • Prayer
    • “We are at our greatest, not only in the sight of God, but also in our own sight when we are upon our knees.”
    • “No man knows himself until he has broken his heart before God on his knees and pleaded for his forgiveness.”
• October 1952 General Conference
  • The Sacred Triangle
    • “We men of the priesthood who have knelt at the sacred altar and on that altar clasped the hand of a sainted companion and have entered an eternal triangle, not a companionship of two but of three the husband, the wife and God—the most sacred triangle man and woman can become a part of. But my heart sinks in despair when I witness so many who have and are withdrawing that hand from one another. They don’t do that until they first divorce God from that triangle, and after divorcing God, it is practically impossible for them to stay together side by side.”
    • “Sisters, you can make men of us beasts. And, brethren, do not withdraw your hand in the greatest hour of need of your companion.”
    • “God grant that I may always have the strength to clasp the hand of my companion wife and that she will always have the strength to hold my hand as if it were in a vise. God bless her with that strength, I pray.”
• April 1952 General Conference
  • You Are the Leaven
    • “This world is in need of a new birth of freedom and that a new birth of freedom cannot come without a new birth of righteousness.”
    • “In your homes where the priesthood of God exists, there is Zion. And to you whose lives are committed to righteousness, I say unto you, You are Zion.”
• October 1951 General Conference
  • Man Shall Not Live by Bread Alone
    • “A man’s soul is too exorbitant a price to pay for bread alone, even if the whole world is his loaf.”
    • “There is deep damnation in the possession of gold without God.”
    • “If man in his seeking for the word of God does not find it, it is not because God has withdrawn from man, but because man has withdrawn from God.”
• April 1951 General Conference
  • And, Lo, I Am with You Alway
    • “As God has borne witness to me in that meeting in his holy house and in this conference, so I bear witness to you that where there is no Quorum of the Twelve, the true organization of Christ’s Church is not here upon the earth, and that is my testimony to you.”
• October 1950 General Conference
  • Gathering the Faithful
    • “Brothers and sisters, we are children of God, we are Saints of the Most High God. There is no place in this kingdom upon the earth for God’s children to make enemies, one with the other, both professing to be members of the Church, over politics or religion.”
• April 1950 General Conference
  • Spirit of Discernment
    • “I think one of the great responsibilities we have, we who hold the priesthood, is the responsibility of acquiring a discernment, a spirit of discernment, so that we may really know when a man has repented.”
    • “In this business of repenting and forgiving men and women of their sins, we must understand one another. We must try to see them as much from their own eyes and get their own viewpoint as we do from our own.”
    • “It is extremely hurtful for any man holding the priesthood and enjoying the gift of the Holy Ghost to harbor a spirit of envy, or malice, or retaliation, or intolerance toward or against his fellow man.”
• October 1949 General Conference
  • The Language of Sincerity
    • “I testify to you, my brothers and sisters, that the Spirit of God is with your missionaries. They are teaching truth, and they know it. They are paying their own expenses or their people are paying their expenses. You cannot question that kind of sincerity.”
    • “It is a sad thing, my brothers and sisters, to hear people say in their testimonies, while they are giving their all for the Church, that in their own homes there are some who are not living the gospel and are not sustaining them in the positions which they hold. Let us begin this business of sustaining one another in our own homes. There is a power of regeneration in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It lifts us up if we will obey it.”
• October 1948 General Conference
  • Among the Polynesians
    • “We left New Zealand three or four weeks ago, and I was on one of those fine clippers of the air. Two hours out of New Zealand we struck a violent storm. The first thing I realized was that we had struck something. As a matter of fact, we had been struck by lightning. The lightning had penetrated the nose of the ship, and that lightning ball bounced around the plane. How it missed the propellers, I do not know. It destroyed one stabilizer on the plane. We continued on our way. I believe from that moment until we landed at Nandi, Fiji, God was the pilot of that plane, and I was his servant, praying that we might be landed safely at our destination. I had no fear in my heart. I know that God looks after his own.”
• October 1947 General Conference
  • Teachers of Men
    • “It is regrettable that we have in our institutions of learning, my brothers and sisters, some who would try to destroy the simple faith of our children which they have acquired at the knees of their parents and in the auxiliary organizations of the Church. You know and I know that there is no power under heaven in this day which will bring peace to the human heart and peace to the nations of the earth outside and beyond this simple faith in God our Father and in the efficacy of the gospel of Jesus Christ to regenerate the children of God here upon the earth.”
    • “Do not anyone ever say that any man who belongs to the councils of this Church has ever come into the councils because he needs or he wants monetary remuneration or because he wants wealth. If there is any man who is opposed to the welfare plan and program of this Church, I would like to have an argument with him if he thinks the brethren who sit here on this stand are not living on the welfare program, are not giving up much of this world’s goods, its luxuries and its wealth by accepting the call.”
• April 1947 General Conference
  • The Principle of the Fast Offering
    • “If we are honest in the payments of fast offerings, we are living miracles. We are not obeying the principle of the fast, and it is a principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are not paying to the Lord and to the Saints in Europe who have neither bedding nor clothing nor food, that which God expects us to pay.”
    • “The great pioneers who came here were fasting pioneers. They were not men and women of financial means. This building, the great building east of here, all of this temple block was built, not with money, but with faith, with privation, and the foundation of it all is righteousness, good character, initiative, independence, self-reliance. If we are building upon the foundation which our pioneer fathers laid for us here, we will not build better buildings; we will build better characters.”
    • “Rather than what we ourselves desire and are pleased to do, and it is our responsibility to hold high that great torch of freedom founded upon righteousness which those great parents of yours and of mine carried here into this valley.”
• October 1946 General Conference
  • Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God
    • “The perverted use of man’s free agency, arising as it does from a false sense of values, has brought down upon all earthly kingdoms, with crushing impact, the fears and frustrations which now beset them. The God of the universe, who “ordereth all things well,” did not design, neither did he desire, that the destiny of man should be so fearful and awesome.”
    • “The evils that men do are of their own making.”
    • “The kingdoms of this earth are not, in and of themselves, righteous kingdoms. Within them, however, there are many righteous souls who have found, by earnest seeking, the kingdom of God in the midst of evil.”
    • “Conversion must needs come from within. And by conversion the kingdom of God within man impels him to reach out for the guidance and tuition of the organized kingdom of God with which he will seek affiliation.”
    • “Peace cannot come in our time; nor in any time, if as the foundation thereof the kingdom of God is ignored.”
• October 1945 General Conference
  • Living Worthily—the Duty of Latter-day Saints
    • “I thank God, my brothers and sisters and friends, that I was reared in a good home. I thank God that in that home I was taught that it was more important to be moral than to be careful, that I was taught from the days of my youth to honor the priesthood of Almighty God. I was frequently told, as were the rest of the members of my father’s family, by our father, that if there ever came a time or an occasion to choose between loyalty to him and loyalty to the priesthood of God, always choose loyalty to the priesthood of God. I thank God that such an occasion never arose.”
    • “The only aspiration I have had in life has been to be a good and honorable member of the Church, and now in having been called to this position, I promise you that I will not lose sight of that other aspiration. The greatest call in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to be a worthy member. Every worthy member of this Church is a potential savior upon Mount Zion of the souls of men.”

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