Anthony Collins
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [1]
an English Deist, was born at Heston, near Hounslow in 1676, and was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge. Being a man of property, he spent his life chiefly in literary pursuits. He died in 1729. His infidel principles brought him into collision with Bentley, Chandler, and many others. His chief works are: Discourse on the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion (Lond. 1737, 8vo): — Priestcraft in Perfection (London, 1710, 8vo): — Discourse on Free-thinking (1713): — Essay on the Thirty-nine Articles, in reply to Bennet (Lond. 1724, 8vo), besides various pamphlets. In 1715 he published his Philosophical Inquiry concerning Liberty and Necessity, which was reprinted in 1717 in 8vo, with corrections, and was translated into French by Des Maizeaux (1720). Dr. Samuel Clarke replied to the necessarian doctrine of Collins chiefly by insisting on its inexpediency, considered as destructive of moral responsibility. Bentley's Remarks upon a late Discourse of Freethinking (given in Randolph's Enchiridion Theologicum, vol 5) is a sharp and sarcastic, but fully adequate reply to the skeptical arguments of Collins. See Leland, Deistical Writers, ch. 6; Farrar, Critical History of Free Thought.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [2]
An English deist, an intimate friend of Locke; his principal works were "Discourse on Freethinking," "Philosophical Inquiry into Liberty and Necessity," and "Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion," which gave rise to much controversy; he was a necessitarian, and argued against revelation (1676-1729).
