the whole plan of my lectures. Nor would it have seemed respectful either to my audience or to my critics if, in reiterating some of my statements and opinions, I had not endeavoured, to the best of my power, to vindicate their truth and to answer any bona fide objections which have been raised against them during the last years.

No one can be more conscious than myself of the magnitude of the task with which the University of Glasgow has entrusted me, and of my own inadequateness to perform it as it ought to be performed. This first course of lectures is but a small contribution towards an immense subject, and it is such as from the nature of my own special studies I felt best qualified to give. But the subject admits of very different treatments; and in nothing has Lord Gifford shown himself more judicious than in founding not one, but several lectureships in Natural Religion, so that inquiries which were so near his heart might not suffer from one-sided treatment. I look forward to the lectures of my learned colleagues at Edinburgh, St. Andrews, and Aberdeen, not only for instruction but also for correction; though on some points, I may hope, for confirmation also of my own views on a subject which has been confided to our united care, and which more than any other requires for its safety a multitude of counsellors.

...

F. MAX MÜLLER.

OXFORD, April 20, 1889.

EXTRACTS from the TRUST DISPOSITION and SETTLEMENT of the late ADAM GIFFORD, sometime one of the Senators of the College of Justice, Scotland, dated 21st August, 1885.

I,

ADAM GIFFORD, sometime one of the Senators of the College of Justice, Scotland, now residing at Granton House, near Edinburgh, being desirous to revise, consolidate, alter, and amend my trust-settlements and testamentary writings, and having fully and maturely considered my means and estate, and the circumstances in which I am placed, and the just claims and expectations of my son and relatives, and the modes in which my surplus funds may be most usefully and beneficially expended, and considering myself bound to apply part of my means in advancing the public welfare and the cause of truth, do hereby make my Trust-deed and latter Will and Testament-that is to say, I give my body to the earth as it was before, in order that the enduring blocks and materials thereof may be employed in new combinations; and I give my soul to God, in Whom and with Whom it always was, to be in Him and with Him for ever in closer and more conscious union; and with regard to my earthly means and estate, I do hereby, give, grant, dispone, convey, and make over and leave and bequeath All and Whole my whole,means and estate, heritable and moveable, real and personal, of every description, now belonging to, or that shail belong to me at the time of my death, with all writs and vouchers thereof, to and in favour of Herbert James Gifford, riy.scr;.John Gifford, Esquire, my brother; Walter Alexander Rajeigh my nephew, presently residing in London Adam West Gifford, W. S., my nephew; Andrew Scott, C. A., in Edinburgh, husband of my niece; and Thomas Raleigh, Esquire, barrister-at-law, London, and the survivors and survivor of them accepting, and the heirs of the last survivor, and to such other person or persons as I may name, or as may be assumed or appointed by competent authority, a majority

Defini

tion of
'Residue.'

being always a quorum, as trustees for the ends, uses, and purposes aftermentioned, but in trust only for the purposes following: (Here follow the first ten purposes). And I declare the preceding ten purposes of this trust to be preferable, and I direct that these ten purposes be fulfilled in the first place before any others, and before any residue of my estate, or any part thereof, is disposed of, and before any residue is ascertained or struck, declaring that it is only what may remain of my means and estate after the said ten purposes are fulfilled that I call herein the 'residue' of my estate, and out of which I direct the lectureships aftermentioned to be founded and endowed. And in regard that, in so far as I can at present see or anticipate, there will be a large 'residue' of my means and estate in the sense in which I have above explained the word, being that which remains after fulfilling the above ten purposes, and being of opinion that I am bound if there is a 'residue' as so explained, to employ it, or part of it, for the good of my fellow-men, and having considered how I may best do so, I direct the 'residue' to be disposed of as follows:-I having been for many years deeply and firmly convinced that the true knowledge of God, that is, of the Being, Nature, and Attributes of the Infinite, of the All, of the First and the Only Cause, that is, the One and Only Substance and Being, and the true and felt knowledge (not mere nominal knowledge) of the relations of man and of the universe to Him, and of the true foundations of all ethics or morals, being, I say, convinced that this knowledge, when really felt and acted on, is the means of man's highest wellbeing, and the security of his upward progress, I have resolved, from the residue' of my estate as aforesaid, to institute and found, in connection, if possible, with the Scottish Universities, lectureships: or classes for the promotion of the study of said subjects, and for the teaching and diffusion of sound views negaiding them, among the whole population of Scotland. Therefore, I direct and appoint my said trustees from the ' residue' of my said estate, after fulfilling the said ten preferable purposes, to pay the following sums, or to assign and make over property of that value to the following bodies in trust-First, To the Senatus Academicus of the University of Edinburgh, and failing them, by declinature or otherwise,

to Saint

Natural

to the Dean and Faculty of Advocates of the College of £25,000 to Justice of Scotland, the sum of £25,000. Second, To the Edinburgh Senatus Academicus of the University of Glasgow, and fail- Univering them, by declinature or otherwise, to the Faculty ofsity. Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, the sum of £20,000. to Glasgow Third, To the Senatus Academicus of the University of UniverAberdeen, whom failing, by declinature or otherwise, to the sity. Faculty of Advocates of Aberdeen, the sum of £20,000. £20,000 to And Fourth, to the Senatus Academicus of the University of Aberdeen St. Andrews, whom failing, by declinature or otherwise, to University. the Physicians and Surgeons of St. Andrews, and of the district twelve miles round it, the sum of £15,000 sterling, £15,000 amounting the said four sums in all to the sum of £80,000 Andrews sterling; but said bequests are made, and said sums are to Univerbe paid in trust only for the following purpose, that is to say, sity. for the purpose of establishing in each of the four cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and St. Andrews, a Lecture- To found ship or Popular Chair for Promoting, Advancing, Teaching, Chair of and Diffusing the study of Natural Theology,' in the widest Theology. sense of that term, in other words, 'The Knowledge of God, the Infinite, the All, the First and Only Cause, the One and the Sole Substance, the Sole Being, the Sole Reality, and the Sole Existence, the Knowledge of His Nature and Attributes, the Knowledge of the Relations which men and the whole universe bear to Him, the Knowledge of the Nature and Foundation of Ethics or Morals, and of all Obligations and Duties thence arising.' The Senatus Academicus in each of the four Universities, or the bodies substituted to them respectively, shall be the patrons of the several lectureships, and the administrators of the said respective endowments, and of the affairs of each lectureship in each city. I call them for shortness simply the 'patrons.' Now I leave all the details and arrangements of each lectureship in the hands and in the discretion of the 'patrons' respectively, who shall have full power from time to time to adjust and regulate the same in conformity as closely as possible to the following brief principles and directions which shall be binding on each and all of the patrons' as far as practicable and possible. I only indicate leading principles. First, The endowment or capital Conditions. fund of each lectureship shall be preserved entire, and be

entire.

Patrons

institu

tion of chair, &c.

for two years.

tions of lecturers.

Capital invested securely upon or in the purchase of lands or heritages preserved which are likely to continue of the same value, or increase in value, or in such other way as Statute may permit, merely the annual proceeds or interest shall be expended in maintaining the respective lectureships. Second, The may delay patrons' may delay the institution of the lectureships, and may from time to time intermit the appointment of lecturers and the delivery of lectures for one or more years for the purpose of accumulating the income or enlarging capital. Lecturers Third, The lecturers shall be appointed from time to time appointed each for a period of only two years and no longer, but the same lecturer may be reappointed for other two periods of two years each, provided that no one person shall hold the office of lecturer in the same city for more than six years in all, it being desirable that the subject be promoted and illusQualifica trated by different minds. Fourth, The lecturers appointed shall be subjected to no test of any kind, and shall not be required to take any oath, or to emit or subscribe any declaration of belief, or to make any promise of any kind: they may be of any denomination whatever, or of no denomination at all (and many earnest and high-minded men prefer to belong to no ecclesiastical denomination); they may be of any religion or way of thinking, or, as is sometimes said, they may be of no religion, or they may be so-called sceptics or agnostics or freethinkers, provided only that the 'patrons' will use diligence to secure that they be able reverent men, true thinkers, sincere lovers of and earnest inquirers after truth. Fifth, I wish the lecturers to treat their subject as a strictly natural science, the greatest of all possible sciences, indeed, in one sense, the only science, that of Infinite Being, without reference to or reliance upon any supposed special exceptional or so-called miraculous revelation. I wish it considered just as astronomy or chemistry is. I have intentionally indicated, in describing the subject of the lectures, the general aspect which personally I would expect the lecturers to bear, but the lecturers shall be under no restraint whatever in their treatment of their theme; for example, they may freely discuss (and it may be well to do so) all questions about man's conceptions of God or the Infinite, their origin, nature, and truth, whether he can

Subject to be treated

as a Natural Science.