"I am glad of this interview, and glad to know that I have your sympathy and prayers. We are indeed going through a great trial--a fiery trial. In the very responsible position in which I happen to be placed, being a humble instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father, as I am, and as we all are, to work out His great purposes, I have desired that all my works and acts may be according to His will, and that it might be so, I have sought His aid; but if, after endeavoring to do my best in the light which He affords me, I find my efforts fail, I must believe that for some purpose unknown to me, He wills it otherwise. If I had had my way, this war would never have been commenced. If I had been allowed my way, this war would have been ended before this; but we find it still continues, and we must believe that He permits it for some wise purpose of His own, mysterious and unknown to us; and though with our limited understandings we may not be able to comprehend it, yet we cannot but believe that He who made the world still governs it." We are not permitted to believe that on this and similar occasions Mr. Lincoln met the situation with words of pious evasion, or that what he said was simply what he thought he might be expected to say. Some months after this interview Mrs. Gurney, being then in London, wrote to Mr. Lincoln. He could easily have acknowledged the letter without committing himself to any religious expression. For several months he kept the letter, and then, on September 4, 1864, he wrote to her as follows: