Moses states Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.In act two, scene three, of The Crucible, as John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth were being questioned by Reverend Hale, they hint at their disbelief in witches. The conversation picks up with Proctor:PROCTOR: I know not what I have said, I may have said it. I have wondered if there be witches in the world-although I cannot believe they come among us now. HALE: Then you do not believe-PROCTOR: I have no knowledge of it; the Bible speaks of witches, and I will not deny them.HALE: And you, woman?ELIZABETH: I-I cannot believe it.HALE: You cannot!PROCTOR: Elizabeth, you bewilder him!ELIZABETH: I cannot think the Devil may own a womans soul, Mr. Hale, when she keeps an upright way, as I have. I am a good woman, I know it; and if you believe I may do only good work in the world, and yet be secretly bound to Satan, then I must tell you, sir, I do not believe it.HALE: But, woman, you do believe there are witches in-ELIZABETH: If you think that I am one, then I say there are none.HALE: You surely do not fly against the word of the Gospel, the Gospel-PROCTOR: She believe in the Gospel, every word! (66)The knowledge of the Devil grew out of the basic beliefs of the Puritan Religion. The Puritans totally accepted the belief of original sin, and many sermons given sated that man was born depraved and sinful. According to the Puritans, the Devil did not work alone. He had many advocates who were generally referred to as witches. The Devils job was to tempt people into sin and disobey Gods commandments, and by doing this he could slowly destroy Gods kingdom. Since the Devil deceived God once, and could take on any shape on earth and deceive us we must take every necessary precaution against such a deceitful character.The Puritans felt that the Devil concentrated all his attention on destroying the New World. They also believed that their religion was the new and only religion that God approv...
