The systematic works of the seventeenth century were familiar to the masses. What was said of the theological disputes of the third century, that bakers' and shoemakers' shops reechoed the words '_homoousian_' and '_homoiousian_' might be applied to the period of which we speak. Even now, there exists in Holland a remarkably popular acquaintance with theology. "I have seen," says a clergyman, "fishermen who could pass examination for licentiate's orders at one of your American schools, and beat the best of the candidates in the handy use of texts and definitions."[91] The descendants of the Dutch settlers in the United States are still familiar with Brokel; while if you ask any Hollander what he thinks of John a Marck's _Marrow of Divinity_, he will probably indicate very soon that he has committed nearly the whole of it to memory. Francken's _Kernel of Divinity_ is equally well-known to the masses, for he belonged to the Voetian party. He was eminently practical and ascetical. He was not without a vein of mysticism, as may be inferred by the title of one of his works: "_Earnest Request of the Bridegroom Jesus Christ to the Church of Laodicea to celebrate the Royal Marriage Feast with Him_." During the entire period, dating back to the Synod of Dort, there was an undercurrent of Rationalism, which, though sometimes daring to make its appearance, observed in general the strictest secrecy. Cartesianism made it bolder for a time, and in party struggles it ventured to take sides. But the keen eye which the church ever turned toward heresy made it timid. Yet it was a power which was only waiting for a strong ally in order to make open war upon the institutions which the heroes of Holland had wrested from Philip II. of Spain.