midnight
This aroused him . He went to the window , and peered out into the dark night . It was very late . Twice already since midnight had the great pulpit-orator Time , like a preacher in the days of the Puritans , turned the hour-glass on his high pulpit , the church belfry , and still went on with his sermon , thundering downward to the congregation in the churchyard and in the village . But they heard him not . They were all asleep in their narrow pews , namely , in their beds and in their graves . Soon afterward the cock crew ; and the cloudy heaven , like the apostle , who denied his Lord , wept bitterly .