The Confession of Flora Negroe
to the New-Gathered Congregational
Chh in Chebacco -----------
Revd. Hon'd and Beloved;
I freely Confess and acknow=
ledge unto you as in the Presence of the great God and his Elect
Angels, as also what I Expect to answer to, before ye Judge of
quick and Dead at the Tribunal Seat of Jesus Christ, that I have
been made truly sensible, yt my conduct of late has been such as
Justly to cool your Charity for, and be matter of Just offence against
me --- I have sinned against Heaven and in thy ^our sight and am no mor[e]
worthy to be reckoned among ye Sons and Daughters of God; As to my Sin
It is not hid from you, God has bro't it to light by his providence oh ye great
God is my witness how I have seen it to be of a Crimson Colour & of a Scarlet
Die attended with grievous aggrevations indeed; I do therefore beg leave
for your satisfaction my own Humiliation & Abasement & ye warning of
others: to Confess and Lay open before you, what were ye provocations
I gave the Lord to Leave me to fall into Temptation and Sin, what ap=
prehensions I have had and Tryals Respecting my Fall; and the Satisfac=
=tion I have received that the Lord hath Covered my Sin with a mantle
of his pardoning Love
As to my Provocations, they were indeed great; for God does me
afflect willingly, nor leave his pardoned ones without a Just Cause, ye Pr[ovo]=
cations, I gave that have Especially been made plain to my view; [ ]
Spirituall pride Ingratitude Unwatchfullness and Levity or lightness; [ ]
[ ] rise up after manifestations of God's smiles, & great Freedom to utter [the]
same before men, & also after freedom in persuading sinners to repent [ ]
and Live In gratitude, also yt Beastlike Satanical & God provoking [ ]
to be Unmindful of the God yt made me, and lightly esteem ye Rock of
my salvation would frequently Creep in upon me - and [--]
Unwatchfulness and Levity also, Especially when I did not feel much [ ]
down by the Majesty of Heaven, & hereby a wide Door ^hath been [-] opened, I have
seen for Satan to spread his Temptations and snares to beguile Souls, to
stir them up to wantonness and concupiscence; yea! to provoke God to
leave them as it were to Satan and their own Lusts astray: And what can poor
Souls do? when God is thus provoked? thus I provoked him God; oh pray
for & take warning by such an Instance as I am. ------------
As to the apprehensions I have ^had & tryals as I respecting my Fall they are many; I
have had Temptations to seek ways to hide my Iniquity from men, but ye Lord
in Mercy frustrated them all and gave me to see that it was against him I had
Sinned, and Done wickedly in his Sight, And also gave me to Behold my Sin in
some measure in a true Light, as it was attended with most heinous Ag=
grevations indeed; as being against a pardoning God, --- after pardon re=
ceived --- and wonderful endearing manifestations of his Love and Favour
to me; Tending not only, to make such settle down in their opposi=
tion (as being in ye right) that have all along appeared against ye
work of God: but also to Occasion the holy name of God, to be blasphemed, Es=
pecially by such as ^I have heretofore endeavoured to persuade and beseech to
Embrace a precious Christ --- but Time and your Patience would fail me to
relate particularly, what Darkness has been spread over my mind and cast in
my way, by Reason of this my Fall - what shame has covered me before men
and confusion of Face before God; -- how god pardon'd upon me and hid
his Face from me - how just it appeared to me for God to Cast me below
Sodomites
