When the Reverend Dimmesdale tells his congregation that he is the worst of sinners, they don’t attack him with anger, but instead view with even more veneration. The congregation respects that he is modest enough to see some shadow in his “white soul,” but can’t believe that he has sinned more than they have. The Reverend Dimmesdale ends up sinning again in that “he had spoken the very truth, and transformed it into the veriest falsehood” (96).