Mademoiselle Bourignon, born and bred a Roman Catholic in the 17th century, was keenly alive to the state of the Church. In The Light of the World, published in England in 1696, and giving a report of her conversations, it is said:—
"I asked her if she firmly believed that the last times were come; and whether the judgment approached.
"She said to me: Believe me, Sir, there is nothing more true; we actually live in the last times; and the judgment is so near, that before three years I believe you will see the effects of it. . . . We may see by the lives of men now, that all the signs are fallen out which Jesus Christ has foretold, namely, that iniquity shall be multiplied, and charity in many shall wax cold, and so of the rest. . . . The life of men is the open book in which these truths are written, and the Holy Scriptures are the equitable Judge which pronounces the sentence. Read, Sir, with attention, they will deliver you from the difficulty you find in believing this; for though indeed they do not determine precisely the day of judgment, yet they will make you see sufficiently that the chief signs which must precede it do already appear. . . . Truth, which is the true Sun of Righteousness, cannot any longer appear openly; it is become black and hateful to all the world, who, desiring to be flattered and praised, cannot hear the truth, because it reproves the falsehood which now prevails. . . . I entreat you to read attentively the 24th chapter of St. Matthew; it speaks of the present time. All the Parables do the same. I wish I had time and leisure to explain them to you; you would see as well as I that the judgment approaches, for all the fore-running signs are already come. People do not perceive them, for want of reflecting seriously enough on the Holy Scriptures, or upon the inward life of men now-a-days: they amuse themselves with regarding only their outward piety, imagining that there are yet a great many good men, because they appear such; but before God all are corrupted. . . . Many souls will be deceived at death, who in their lifetime presumed they were true Christians, while in the sight of God they will be worse than heathens. Such is the blindness wherein we live at present, in which nobody makes a right judgment of himself, or of others, every one presuming to be saved without good works; whereas
