Answer:
A. the dark man reveals that he helped Brown's forebears persecute others.
Step-by-step explanation:
Hawthorn is happy about his religion; this is because one of the ancestors belonged to this religion and was the judge who had sentenced the Salim witch. But it is also clear that most the works of Hawthorne spread hypocrisy which was shown in the behaviors of the puritan.
He also says that most people who pretend to be religious are not pure even if they go to church and seem to be holy. He, therefore, refers to them as sinful like everybody else.