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How is the Devil's service and congregation described in "Young Goodman Brown"?

The Devil's congregation is described as being made up of all kinds of people, the high and the low, those believed to be pious and the known sinners, the young and the old.  Goodman Brown is shocked to see the faces of those involved in government, and even religious leaders of the community, those who "looked devoutly heavenward" each Sunday as they faced their congregations from their pulpits.  Even the governor's wife was there.  He...

The Devil's congregation is described as being made up of all kinds of people, the high and the low, those believed to be pious and the known sinners, the young and the old.  Goodman Brown is shocked to see the faces of those involved in government, and even religious leaders of the community, those who "looked devoutly heavenward" each Sunday as they faced their congregations from their pulpits.  Even the governor's wife was there.  He sees young girls hiding from their mothers, and "a score of church-members of Salem village, famous for their especial sanctity."  Mixed in with these are men who lead "dissolute lives" and "women of spotted fame," and even some people who are suspected of having committed truly heinous crimes.


During the Devil's service, the converts -- Goodman Brown and his wife, Faith -- are led forward into a clearing filled with the perverse company described above, while all the trees of the forest around them seem engulfed in flame.  The Devil sermonizes as a minister would in church, beckoning his auditors toward sin and corruption instead of imploring them to turn away from it as such a minister would.  The converts are then invited to look upon one another, as if to confirm that all are sinners, none are guiltless, and they are welcomed to the community of faithless.  It is as this point that Brown demands that Faith resist the Devil, and the entire scene disappears.

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