Wigglesworth shows his beliefs about people in, "Thou art good, I am evil, thou art faithful I am unfaithful in the covenant." This quotation shows his argument that humans such as himself are horrible despicable creatures, that don't deserve God's kindness, whereas God is pure and perfect. .
Unlike Wigglesworth, Mather uses people's fears rather than guilt to strengthen his argument. Fear of the Devil was a prominent factor in a puritans religious life, and most misfortunes were said to be the fault of his evil. Mather's article The Wonders Of The Invisible World shows a problem in the New Puritan settlement, and the houses of the good people there are filled with the doleful shrieks of their children and servants, tormented by invisible hands,". Emphasizing that these people are "good", Mather is telling his readers that even people under strict Puritan regime can be tempted to evil, therefore warning even the most religious to take all cautions against the Devil. This passage uses pathos, by exaggerating the horrific scene with "doleful shrieks" and "torment." Such words give striking imaginary and allows for imagination to run wild in a rather dark place. Mather also gives his own evidence of people going into the dark side, saying "yea, more than one twenty have confessed that they have signed unto a book, which the Devil showed them and engaged in his hellish design of bewitching and ruining our land." This passage speaks to people's beliefs that the Devil is behind all their problems. In the Scarlet Letter Hester mentions a Black man who gives her the scarlet letter on her chest. The passage leaves the impression that signing this book is like giving your soul to the Devil or doing a bad deed. The Black man is similar to this, representing the Devil. Both these representations in which the Devil takes the souls of once good people and uses them as his minions, or witches, can be shown in, "tis agreed that the Devil has made a dreadful knot of witches in the country.