President Lincoln writes to Quaker minister Eliza P. Gurney, of New Jersey, and thanks her for her support. Due to Quakers' "oppos[ition] to both war and oppression," Lincoln acknowledges that this war presents them with a particular difficulty. Lincoln confides, "We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. . . . Meanwhile we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us . . . Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay." Abraham Lincoln to Eliza P. Gurney, 4 September 1864, CW, 7:535-36.