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 Silliman, who was not yet 22 years old and knew virtually nothing about science. Silliman had recently finished his law studies and was about to embark on a legal career. Silliman was startled by the offer, requested time to pray about it and consulted with family and friends. As a devout Christian, Silliman 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 51 years. Silliman 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. Silliman joined the College Church of New Haven in 1802. The following memorandum, written in covenant form as a prayer, was found among his papers. Remember, he was 22 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:”
Benjamin Silliman
O Thou Triune God, my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier, accept me in the Covenant of Grace; dispose of me according to thy own good pleasure; employ me in thy service, save me in thy own good way; and enable me to perform with sincerity the solemn act of publicly committing my soul into thy hands. Not because I am assured of my soul’s health do I thus resolve to profess and promise. I am not without hope (although it is but faint and glimmering) that God has accepted my soul, which was early given up to Him baptism by my pious parents, one of whom I trust is now singing the song of Moses and the Lamb, and the other, I trust, is fast ripening for heaven, nor can I entirely despair that the secret act of self-dedication which I have performed in my closet has been regarded by Him who searches the heart and tries the reins. O my Redeemer, when this day for the first time I taste the bread, the sacred symbol of thy flesh, which was torn for my sins and drink the wine, that sacred symbol of thy blood, which was shed for my sins, may I be melted with grief for my sins, warmed with gratitude for thy disinterested (unselfish) love, and elevated with the hope by the remembrance that my Redeemer lives, and that I shall stand before Him at the last day!
Life of Benjamin Silliman: Chiefly from the Manuscripts, Reminiscences and Correspondence George Fisher, 1866
“How Science Came to Yale” Richard Conniff
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.