ling polemicist against the entire
Anglican hierarchy. Not until 1724 did he become a polished debater, when
he initiated a controversy which for the next five years made a "very
great noise" and which ended only with his death. The loudest shot in the
persistent barrage was sounded by the _Grounds and Reasons_, and its last
fusillade by the _Discourse concerning Ridicule and Irony in Writing_.[6]

During those five years Collins concentrated upon a single opponent in
each work and made it a rhetorical practice to change his "Adversary" in
successive essays. He created in this way a composite victim whose
strength was lessened by deindividualization; in this way too he ran no
risk of being labelled a hobbyhorse rider or, more seriously, a
persecutor. Throughout the _Grounds and Reasons_ he laughed at, reasoned
against, and satirized William Whiston's assumption that messianic
prophecies in the Old Testament were literally fulfilled in the figure and
mission of Jesus. Within two years and in a new work, he substituted
Edward Chandler, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, for the mathematician.
It need not have been the Bishop; any one of thirty-four others could have
qualified for the role of opponent, among them people like Clarke, and
Sykes, and Sherwood, and even the ubiquitous Whiston. Collins rejected
them, however, to debate in the _Scheme_ with Bishop Chandler, the author
of _A Defence of Christianity from the Prophecies of the old Testament_,
with one who was, in short, the least controversial and yet the most
orthodox of his many assailants.

Early in 1727 the Anglican establishment came to the abrupt realization
that the subject of the continuing debate--the reliability of the argument
from prophecy--was inconclusive, that it could lead only to pedantic
wrangling and hair-splitting with each side vainly clutching victory.
Certainly the devotion of many clergymen to biblical criticism was
secondary to their interest in orthodoxy as a functional adjunct of
government, both civil and canonical. It was against this interest, as it
was enunciated in Rogers's _Eight Sermons concerning the Necessity of
Revelation_ (1727) and particularly in its vindictive preface, that
Collins chose to fight.[7] The debate had now taken a happy turn for him.
As he saw it, the central issue devolved upon man's natural right to
religious liberty. At least he made this the theme of his _Letter to Dr.
Rogers_. In writing to Des Maizeaux abou