tism. Holland was the refuge and home of the exile of every
land who could succeed in planting his feet upon her dyke-shores. But
the church of that country was so illiberal that the use of a term in
any other than the accepted sense was a sufficient ground of
excommunication.

The intimate relations in which Holland stood to England by the
accession of William and Mary to the British throne afforded an
opportunity for the importation of English Deism. Nowhere on the
Continent was that system of skepticism so extensively propagated as
among the Dutch. The Deists took particular pains to visit Holland, and
were never prouder than when told that their works were read by their
friends across the North Sea. On the other hand, Holland supplied
England with the best editions of the classics then published in Europe,
some of which are still unsurpassed specimens of typography.

The works of Hobbes appeared in Amsterdam in 1668, his _De Cive_ having
been issued as early as 1647. Locke's _Epistle on Toleration_ was
translated into Dutch in 1689, while his _Essay on the Human
Understanding_ was rendered not only into that language, but also into
the French. Collins and Chubb were read scarcely less by the Hollander
than by the Englishman. Locke spent seven years in Holland, and Toland
studied two years in Leyden. Shaftesbury resided among the Dutch during
the year 1691, and made a second visit in 1699. The adversaries of the
Deists enjoyed the same privilege, and did not hesitate to improve it.
Burnet became a great favorite in Holland. Lardner, who spent three
years there, was well known to the reading circles, for his works were
translated into their tongue. Lyttleton, Clarke, Sherlock, and Bentley
received no less favor. Leland enjoyed a cordial introduction by the pen
of Professor Bonnet, while Tillotson had his readers and admirers among
even the boatmen in the sluggish canals of Leyden, Rotterdam, and
Amsterdam. But the Deists of England gained more favor in Holland than
their opponents were able to acquire. The former were bold, while the
latter were timid and compromising. Consequently a brood of domestic
Deists sprang up, who borrowed all their capital from their English
fathers. Patot, a follower of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, referred to
Christ by asking, "What do we trouble ourselves about the words of a
carpenter?" He wrote his _Fable of the Bees_, to ridicule the doctrines
of the atonement and resurrection.

But as