The subject of Mr. Hooper's first sermon after he begins to wear the veil is actually somewhat of an explanation of the symbolism behind the veil. Its subject was
[...] secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them.
In other words, Mr. Hooper preaches about those secret sins that each of us commits and feels compelled to hide from even those people that we are closest to. We would also like to be able to put our secret sins out of our own minds, and we can even delude ourselves into believing that God isn't aware of them because we are so anxious to forget (and hide) them.
This is, essentially, the truth about humanity that is represented by the veil. Mr. Hooper believes that each of us is secretly sinful and that we all attempt to hide that truth from everyone else by holding up a figurative veil between ourselves and them. He wears the literal veil as a symbol of this unseen veil that he believes we all wear.
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