[3] Gurley graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, in 1837, with the highest honors of his class, and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1840.

In 1859 he was chosen Chaplain of the United States Senate; one of fourteen Presbyterians to hold that office, to date.

"[4] He preached his funeral sermon on April 19, 1865, at the White House,[2] lauding Lincoln for his commitment to American ideals: We admired and loved him on many accounts, for strong and various reasons.

We admired his childlike simplicity, his freedom from guile and deceit, his staunch and sterling integrity, his kind and forgiving temper, his industry and patience, his persistent, self-sacrificing devotion to all the duties of his eminent position, from the least to the greatest; his readiness to hear and consider the cause of the poor and humble, the suffering and the oppressed; his charity toward those who questioned the correctness of his opinions and the wisdom of his policy; his wonderful skill in reconciling differences among the friends of the Union, leading them away from abstractions, and inducing them to work together and harmoniously for the common weal; his true and enlarged philanthropy, that knew no distinction of color or race, but regarded all men as brethren...[5]Gurley had a beautiful singing voice (his mother was a professional singer) and was a powerful speaker.

Gurley continued to serve as pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church until his death in Washington, D.C., on September 30, 1868.