Note 71 — Chapter XXII
Reading edition
Dr. Chapman's Latest Light on Lincoln has a few hitherto unprinted things, one of them being some notes by Rev. Dr. Gurley, the beginnings of a contemplated book or pamphlet which he did not complete. The manuscript as produced by Dr. Chapman was furnished by Dr. Gurley's daughter, Mrs. Emma K. Adams, of Washington. The only incident of any considerable value is that Mr. Lincoln one night invited Dr. Gurley, who like himself was an early riser, to come to the White House next morning at seven o'clock for an hour's talk before breakfast. They had the talk and the breakfast. As Dr. Gurley walked away, he was asked whether he and Mr. Lincoln had been talking about the war, and he replied, "Far from it. We have been talking about the state of the soul after death. That is a subject of which Mr. Lincoln never tires. This morning, however, I was a listener, as Mr. Lincoln did all the talking" (Latest Light on Lincoln, p. 500).
There can be, I think, no serious question of Mr. Lincoln's faith in immortality. It was much more easy for a man of his training and temperament to hold that article of faith than some others which might seem to some other men more easily to be accepted.