extraordinary fact. He said that
Dr. Bentley, who so ably replied to Collins's 'Discourse,' when many
years after he discovered him fallen into great distress, conceiving
that by having ruined Collins's character as a writer for ever, he had
been the occasion of his personal misery, he liberally contributed to
his maintenance. In vain I mentioned to that elegant writer, who was
not curious about facts, that this person could never have been Anthony
Collins, who had always a plentiful fortune; and when it was suggested
to him that this 'A. Collins' as he printed it, must have been Arthur
Collins, the historic compiler, who was often in pecuniary difficulties,
still he persisted in sending the lie down to posterity, without
alteration, in his second edition, observing to a friend of mine, that
'the story, while it told well, might serve as a striking instance of
his great relative's generosity; and that it should stand because it
could do no harm to any but to Anthony Collins, whom he considered as
little short of an Atheist.'" Such is a specimen of Christian honor and
justice.

In 1715, appeared his "Philosophical inquiry into Human Liberty." Dr.
Clarke was again his opponent. The publication of this work marked an
epoch in metaphysics. Dugald Stewart, in criticising the discussion on
Moral Liberty between Clarke and Leibnitz, says, "But soon after this
controversy was brought to a conclusion by the death of his antagonist,
he (Clarke) had to renew the same argument, in reply to his countryman,
Anthony Collins, who, following the footsteps of Hobbes, with logical
talents not inferior to his master (and with a weight of personal
character in his favor to which his master had no pretensions,) gave to
the cause which he so warmly espoused, a degree of credit amongst
sober and inquiring politicians, which it had never before possessed
in England." The following are the principal arguments of Collins in
reference to Liberty and Necessity:--

First. Though I deny Liberty in a certain meaning of that word, yet I
contend for Liberty, as it signifies _a power in man to do as he wills
or pleases_.

Secondly. When I affirm _Necessity_ I contend only for _moral
necessity_; meaning thereby that man, who is an intelligent and sensible
being, is determined by his reason and senses; and I deny any man to
be subject to such necessity as is in clocks, watches, and such other
beings, which, for want of intelligence and sensation, are s