William Milne (missionary)

William Milne
Missionary to China
Born	April 1785 Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Died	2 June 1822 (1822-06-03) (aged 37) Malacca, Malaysia

William Milne (April 1785 – 2 June 1822) was the second Protestant missionary sent by the London Missionary Society to China, after his colleague, Robert Morrison. Milne served as pastor of Christ Church, Malacca, a member of Ultra-Ganges Mission, the first Principal of Anglo-Chinese College, and chief editor of two missionary magazines: Indo-Chinese Gleaner (English), and Chinese Monthly Magazine (察世俗每月統記傳). Due to Milne's distinguished role in his missionary field, the University of Glasgow granted him a Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) in 1820.

Milne was born in Braeside of Cults, a village few miles south to Huntly, in the rural parish of Kennethmont in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. His father died when he was only six years old (1791), and his mother taught him at home. While he was still very young, he worked on a farm for a period of time before being apprenticed to a carpenter under training of Adam Sievwright. While excelling at carpentry, he also was reported to have distinguished himself by his profanity learned when was a shepherd boy.

According to Milne, he had "a natural prediction for books." When he was young, Milne memorized the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and Thomas Wilson's Mother's Catechism, but had no impact from them, rather as Milne later said, it was for the purpose of "to be equal with my neighbours, and to avoid the displeasure of the minister of the parish." About thirteen years of age, Mine experienced "a partial reformation," which was effected through: 1) the reading of tracts and Christian books, 2) two pious Christian examples, 3) hope of salvation through prayer, 4) fear of evil and danger, and 5) the sufferings of Christ symbolized through the Lord's Table. From then, Milne started to attend Sunday schools and prayer meetings. In 1801, by the age of sixteen, Milne experienced conversion, which is an understanding of his total depravity of his sin, and salvation came from Christ Jesus by faith alone. As Milne stated, that God led him at that time to conversion through many means, like the reading of Scripture, prayer, reading of books like The Cloud of Witnesses and Thomas Boston's Human Nature in Four-Fold State, and sermons, particularly Rev. George Cowie's from Revelation 22:21.