RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Collegialism Collins
His reading included Leibnitz's Theodicee and the writings of Anton, Oetinger, and Bengel, by which his tendency toward a mystic piety was strengthened. In Duisburg he had won a place in the circle in which J. G. Hasencamp was leader, and in Barmen he was brought into relations with a similar circle, the characteristic of which was a deep and earnest piety. He became interested in problems of dogmatics, particularly in soteriology and eschatology.
His system is to be understood from the standpoint of the new learning. To the question, Why has God sent his Son into the world ? the answer was given in the words of Rom. viii. 4: That the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us. Christ as the antithesis of Adam, who brought death on man, offers life, and this has come about through the love of God, which induces faith. But in his doctrine of the Christ he held a thoroughgoing Kenosis (q-v.) as best expressing the self-humiliation through which Christ achieved salvation. Going with this was a strong opposition to the doctrine of predestination. For him revelation was history, and BibUcal history the story of redemption, finally accomplished on the cross. The force of his exposition gained him large influence, and his teaching, extended by the labors of his disciples Krafft, of Erlangen, and G. Meuken, had a formative bearing upon the newer theology as represented by Thomasius and Hofmann. His outlook upon this life gave a practical turn to the activities of his followers which is expressed in the Missionary Society and Mission House of Barmen. (H. CREMERt.)
Bibliogkapht; For his doctrines consult: Erkldrung biblischer Wahrheiten, 2 vols., Elberfeld, 1807-16; Goldene Aepfel in silbernen Schalen, Barmen, 1854; F. W. Krug, Die Lehre des Dr. Collenbusch, Elberfeld, 1846. For his life consult: Mittheilungen aus dem Leben und Wirken S. Collenbusch in Barmen, Barmen, 1853; K. C. E. Ehmann, F. C. Oetinger's Leben und Briefe, pp. 778-798, Stuttgart, 1859.
COLLIER, JEREMY: Nonjuring English clergyman; b. at Stowe Qui or Quire (5 m. n.e. of Cambridge), Cambridgeshire, Sept. 23, 1650; d. in London Apr. 26, 1726. He studied at Caius College, Cambridge (B.A., 1673; M.A., 1676), took orders, and was rector at Ampton, Suffolk, 1679-85, then resided in London. After the Revolution he wrote a number of bitter political pamphlets on the Jacobite side, and made himself offensive to the government by his conduct; he was twice imprisoned (1688 and 1692), but was treated leniently on the whole; was made bishop by the nonjurors in 1713. He led a life of great literary activity; his Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (London, 1698) was a vigorous attack and was vigorously resisted; it is hypercritical and too vehement, nevertheless it marks the beginning of a better day for the English drama. His Essays (complete collected edition, 1722) are interesting and not without historical value. His work of most permanent value was An Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain to the End of the Reign of Charles II- (2 vols., 1708-14; ed. with life by T. Lathbury, 9 vols., 1852). He published also The Great Historical, Geographical, Genealogical, and Poetical Dictionary (4 vols., 1701-21), a translation and HI.-ll
continuation of Moreri's Dictionnaire historique, and translated the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (1701).
Bibliography: There is an extended notice in DNB, xi. 341-347, with references to literature.
COLLINS, ANTHONY: Deist; b.atIsleworth(2m. s.w. of Brentford, a s.w. suburb of London) or at Heston (3 m. w. of Brentford) June 21, 1676; d. in London Dec. 13, 1729. He studied at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, and in the Temple, London, but never practised law. He was a man of ineans, possessed of no slight ability in practical affairs, amiable and blameless in private life. Locke was his intimate friend, and during visits to Holland in 1711 and 1713 be became acquainted with Le Clerc and other scholars there. After 1715 he lived in Essex and was justice of the peace, deputy lieutenant, and treasurer of the county. His works are noteworthy more for the commotion they occasioned than for their intrinsic merit. The best known is A Discourse of Free-Thinking (London, 1713), in which he asserts that sound belief must rest on free inquiry, and hints that the adoption of rational principles would exclude a belief in supernaturalism. Richard Bentley made a reply (Remarks by Phileleutherus Lipsiensis, 1713),
in which he showed many defects in CoUins' scholarship; Swift also entered the lists with Mr. Collins's Discourse of Freethinking Put into Plain English by Way of Abstract for the Use of the Poor (1713). Earlier works were An Essay Concerning the Use of Reason (1707), Priestcraft in Perfection (1709), and A Vindication of the Divine Attributes (1710); in the last-named he maintains that we can have a true, even if limited, knowledge of the divine attributes. In 1715 he published A Philosophical Inquiry Concerning Human Liberty, a defense of determinism. A Historical and Critical Essay on the Thirty-nine Articles (1724) elaborates an argument of Priestcraft in Perfection that the twentieth of the Thirtynine Articles is fraudulent. In A Discourse on the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion (1724) he assumes that the fulfilment of prophecy is the only valid proof of Christianity, and, since such fulfilment can be found only by taking unwarranted liberties with the text, he argues that Christianity has no valid proof. A reply to this work by Edward Chandler (q.v.) called forth The Scheme of Literal Prophecy Considered (1726). Collins's works were published anonymously, but their authorship was really no secret. See Deism, I., § 5.
Bibliography: L. Stephen, History of English Thought, 2 vols., London, 1881; J. Cairns, Unbelief in the Eighteenth Century, pp. 37-78, ib. 1881; DNB, xi. 363-364.
COLLINS, WILLIAM RUSSELL: Reformed Episcopalian; b. in New York City Dec. 14, 1862. He was graduated from the Reformed Episcopal Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1888, and was minister and rector of Emanuel Church, Baltimore (1887-91); assistant rector of St. Paul's, Philadelphia (1891-93); and rector of Christ Church, Cumberland, Md. (1893-97); Trinity, Ashtabula, O. (1897-1900); Church of the Reconcihation, Brooklyn (1900-02); and St. Paul's, Woodlawn Heights, New York City (since 1903). Since 1903 he has also been professor of liturgiology
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Colors in the Bible