The end outcome and purpose being to perform the foremost tangible duties that are assigned a preacher, that being preaching the scripture. A dedicated seminary student will eventually clear this hurdle, arguable the most tangible of his jobs. Compared with the other responsibilities that wait, learning the scripture and studying widely shared interpretations of it would be the road most clearly laid out, and that has most often achieved. The determined minister will likely clear this initiative with little or no difficulty, let alone the successful minister.
This undertaking asks that he do this to the full extent of his intellectual capabilities, which will of course vary among different ministers. While nobody except the minister himself can ever assess if he has truly made every effort to reach his intellectual potential, his faith and civil obligation should hold him to his word. Hawthorne has constructed such a character that if he falls short of this task, we see little to no evidence of it. .
Hooper's own fundamental interpretation of scripture is reflected through his behavior. Passages in Exodus, Leviticus, and Isaiah use the veil as a metaphor for that which separates man from knowledge that is to be gained in the next world. In his exchange with Elizabeth he claims "this dismal shade must separate me from the world." Hooper has adopted this metaphor to be the defining oration of his career, to seek to relay the awareness of sin, hidden or not, among those who would refuse to acknowledge their sin, if not attempt to hide it altogether. The specific details of another person's sins are a knowledge not often seen by mortals, since people are expected to hide their transgression from themselves and/or others by means that will shroud others" awareness of them.
It would seem Hooper finds this concept to be integral for his community, important enough so as to justify spending most of his life behind the veil.
