re of it" (_Discourse of Freethinking_,
105).

His first work of note was his _Essay concerning the Use of Reason in
Propositions the Evidence whereof depends on Human Testimony_ (1707), in
which he rejected the distinction between _above_ reason and _contrary
to_ reason, and demanded that revelation should conform to man's natural
ideas of God. Like all his works, it was published anonymously, although
the identity of the author was never long concealed. Six years later
appeared his chief work, _A Discourse of Freethinking, occasioned by the
Rise and Growth of a Sect called Freethinkers_ (1713). Notwithstanding
the ambiguity of its title, and the fact that it attacks the priests of
all churches without moderation, it contends for the most part, at least
explicitly, for no more than must be admitted by every Protestant.
Freethinking is a right which cannot and must not be limited, for it is
the only means of attaining to a knowledge of truth, it essentially
contributes to the well-being of society, and it is not only permitted
but enjoined by the Bible. In fact the first introduction of
Christianity and the success of all missionary enterprise involve
freethinking (in its etymological sense) on the part of those converted.
In England this essay, which was regarded and treated as a plea for
deism, made a great sensation, calling forth several replies, among
others from William Whiston, Bishop Hare, Bishop Hoadly, and Richard
Bentley, who, under the signature of _Phileleutherus Lipsiensis_,
roughly handles certain arguments carelessly expressed by Collins, but
triumphs chiefly by an attack on trivial points of scholarship, his own
pamphlet being by no means faultless in this very respect. Swift also,
being satirically referred to in the book, made it the subject of a
caricature.

In 1724 Collins published his _Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of
the Christian Religion_, with _An Apology for Free Debate and Liberty of
Writing_ prefixed. Ostensibly it is written in opposition to Whiston's
attempt to show that the books of the Old Testament did originally
contain prophecies of events in the New Testament story, but that these
had been eliminated or corrupted by the Jews, and to prove that the
fulfilment of prophecy by the events of Christ's life is all "secondary,
secret, allegorical, and mystical," since the original and literal
reference is always to some other fact. Since, further, according to him
the fulfilment of