It seems some slip or mistake of the preacher has been caught out, because these days his scolding and rebukes upon us have decreased quite a bit.

Here, the poet takes a delightfully witty and playful jab at self-righteous moralizers. Noticing that the usual sermons and scoldings have suddenly quieted down, the speaker amusingly deduces that the preacher himself must have been caught in some private hypocrisy. It is a lighthearted yet sharp commentary on how quickly holier-than-thou judgment softens when one's own flaws are exposed.