midnight
It had now ceased , and , all being again still , she forbore to go to St. Aubert 's room . Her mind was not disposed for immediate sleep , and the moonlight , that shone into her chamber , invited her to open the casement , and look out upon the country . It was a still and beautiful night , the sky was unobscured by any cloud , and scarce a leaf of the woods beneath trembled in the air . As she listened , the midnight hymn of the monks rose softly from a chapel , that stood on one of the lower cliffs , a holy strain , that seemed to ascend through the silence of night to heaven , and her thoughts ascended with it . From the consideration of His works , her mind arose to the adoration of the Deity , in His goodness and power ; wherever she turned her view , whether on the sleeping earth , or to the vast regions of space , glowing with worlds beyond the reach of human thought , the sublimity of God , and the majesty of His presence appeared . Her eyes were filled with tears of awful love and admiration ; and she felt that pure devotion , superior to all the distinctions of human system , which lifts the soul above this world , and seems to expand it into a nobler nature ; such devotion as can , perhaps , only be experienced , when the mind , rescued , for a moment , from the humbleness of earthly considerations , aspires to contemplate His power in the sublimity of His works , and His goodness in the infinity of His blessings . Is it not now the hour , The holy hour , when to the cloudless height Of yon starred concave climbs the full-orbed moon , And to this nether world in solemn stillness , Gives sign , that , to the list ' ning ear of Heaven Religion 's voice should plead ?