Benjamin Silliman

It was a warm, sunny morning in July 1801. They arranged to meet under the shade of elm trees on the lawn of Yale College. The college president, Timothy Dwight, requested the meeting with Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864), a former student at the school. Dr. Dwight invited him to join the faculty as a Professor of Chemistry and Natural Science. The field of science was primarily a foreign enterprise in those days and still nervously regarded by the church establishment. Yet, Dwight, a clergyman, wanted to expand the school’s offerings beyond the training of Congregational ministers. He desired theology students at the college to also become proficient in natural science. It was a bold move on Dwight’s part to offer the job to Benjamin, who was not yet twenty-two years old and knew nothing about science. Benjamin had recently finished his law studies and was about to embark on a legal career. Benjamin was startled by the offer, requested time to pray about it and consulted with family and friends. As a devout Christian, he was already convinced that science and faith could walk hand in hand. He accepted the job, took a crash course on science at the University of Pennsylvania, and taught science at Yale for fifty-one years. Benjamin believed that nature and Scripture present us with two books of divine revelation. God is known chiefly by his works in creation and his words in Scripture.
The following memorandum, written in covenant form as a prayer on the day Benjamin joined a church, was found among his papers. Remember, he was twenty-two when he wrote it! His opening petition says it well, “Dispose of me according to thy good pleasure; employ me in thy service and save me in thy own good way.”