During his residence in Washington, Mr. Lincoln habitually attended the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. He was a warm personal friend of the pastor, Rev. Phineas D. Gurley, D.D., whose grandson, Captain Gurley of the War Department, relates that Lincoln sat with Dr. Gurley on the rear porch of the White House during the second battle of Bull Run, and when the strain had become almost unbearable he knelt in prayer and Mr. Lincoln knelt beside him and joined reverently in the petition. Dr. Gurley's testimonies to the religious development of Lincoln's life were conservative, and bear upon their face marks of trustworthiness. There are no extravagant claims; no florid and declamatory theological affirmations,[23] but such as this which Dr. Gurley remembers to have heard Lincoln say to a company of clergymen calling upon him in one of the darkest times in the Civil War: "My hope of success in this struggle rests on that immutable foundation, the justness and the goodness of God; and when events are very threatening I still hope that in some way all will be well in the end, because our cause is just and God will be on our side."--_Scribner's Magazine_, 1873, p. 339. Lincoln sometimes varied this form of expression and said that he was less anxious to proclaim that God was on his side than he was to be sure that he was on God's side. During this period Lincoln had frequent occasion to meet delegations from religious bodies and to reply to their addresses. We shall have occasion later to consider some of his words to these different religious bodies. He also issued a number of proclamations, calling for days of fasting and prayer and days of thanksgiving, in which he expressed not only the formal sentiment which he might assume represented the mind of the people, but also to a considerable extent what must have been his own religious conviction. An unbiased reading of these proclamations and addresses compels the reader to recognize in them, not merely the formal courtesy of an official to the representatives of large and influential bodies, but the sincere expression of his own faith. An illustration may be found in his attitude toward the Quakers. No religious body suffered more during the Civil War, and with no religious fellowship did Mr. Lincoln feel a more instinctive sympathy, though he was compelled by the logic of events to pursue courses of action in contravention of their desires and at times of their convictions. In September, 1862, he received a delegation of Friends, and listened to an address on their behalf by Mrs. Eliza P. Gurney, wife of Joseph John Gurney, a wealthy banker, entreating him on behalf of their peace-loving organization to bring the war to a speedy end. He could not do what they wished, and moreover, he believed that it was not the will of God that the war should end till it had wrought out the purposes of the Divine will. He said: