Proctor, I cannot think God be provoked so grandly by such a petty cause. The jails are packed – our greatest judges sit in Salem now – and hangin’ promised. Man, we must look to cause proportionate. Were there murder done, perhaps, and never brought to light? Abomination? Some secret blasphemy that stinks to Heaven? Think on cause, man, and let you help me to discover it. For there’s your way, believe it, there is your only way, when such confusion strikes upon the world. Let you counsel among yourselves; think on your village and what may have drawn from heaven such thundering wrath upon you all. I shall pray God open up our eyes.
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 2. Hale is in the Proctor home when he delivers this speech to John just after his wife Elizabeth is taken to jail. Displaying blind faith in Salem’s corrupt court system, he naively describes those in charge of the trials as "our greatest judges." But far from being great upholders of justice, they have shown themselves as biased, unfair and unquestioningly believing the wild tales of a group of attention-seeking girls. There is further irony when Hale suggests that some secret sin must have brought on Salem’s troubles, such as murder or blasphemy, and they need to discover it. Hale is not aware, but the audience is, that Proctor is himself hiding a secret sin, that of adultery.