Hugh Miller, b. 1802. Scottish geologist and folklorist, contemporary of Charles Darwin, defender of creationism but not of a worldwide flood, evangelical Christian, one of the founding members of the Free Church of Scotland. “His books, such as The Old Red Sandstone, The Cruise of the Betsey, Footprints of the Creator, Testimony of the Rocks, Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland, and My Schools and Schoolmasters (autobiography) became bestsellers in many editions.” He was self-taught in geology, but respected by the leading scientists of his day. He committed suicide on Christmas Eve, 1856, because he feared that he was going insane. Read more about this fascinating scientist and Christian.

Henry Alford, b. 1810. Henry Alford was also a Christian, a cleric who became dean of Canterbury Cathedral. He edited the poems of John Donne, another Church of England cleric, translated The Odyssey into English, and wrote a four-volume commentary on the Greek New Testament. His deep commitment to God is shown in these words which he wrote in his Bible on November 18, 1827, when he was only seventeen years old: “I do this day, as in the presence of God and my own soul, renew my covenant with God, and solemnly determine henceforth to become His, and to do His work as far as in me lies.” Alford also wrote the hymn Come Ye Thankful People, Come.

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God�s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God�s own field, fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.

For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
Giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.

Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified, in Thy garner to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels come, raise the glorious harvest home.

It’s going to be a great part of heaven’s harvest to sit down and talk with some of the saints who have gone before us, to hear the complete stories of how God was glorified through their lives. Even those imperfect lives–like mine.