Collins, Anthony 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 Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature was edited by John McClintock and James Strong. It contains nearly 50,000 articles pertaining to Biblical and other religious literature, people, creeds, etc. It is a fantastic research tool for broad Christian study.
John McClintock was born October 27, 1814 in Philadelphia to Irish immigrants, John and Martha McClintock. He began as a clerk in his father's store, and then became a bookkeeper in the Methodist Book Concern in New York. Here he converted to Methodism and considered joining the ministry. McClintock entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1832 and graduated with high honors three years later. Subsequently, he was awarded a doctorate of divinity degree from the same institution in 1848.WikipediaRead More