subsequent times the hours of prayer were gradually
developed from the three or (with midnight) the four seasons above
enumerated to seven, viz.:--by the addition of Prime (the first hour),
Vespers (the evening), and Compline (bedtime) according to the words of
the Psalm--'Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous
judgments.' Other pious and instructive reasons existed, or have since
been perceived, for this number. It was a memorial of the seven days of
creation; it was an honour done to the seven petitions given us by our
Lord in His prayer; it was a mode of pleading for the influence of that
Spirit, who is revealed to us as sevenfold; on the other hand, it was a
preservative against those seven evil spirits which are apt to return to
the exorcised soul, more wicked than he who has been driven out of it;
and it was a fit remedy of those successive falls which, scripture says,
happen to the 'just man' daily." (_Tracts for the Times_, No. 75.
"On the Roman Breviary.")

"Matutina ligat Christum qui crimina purgat,
Prima replet sputis. Causam dat Tertia mortis.
Sexta cruci nectit. Latus ejus Nona bipertit.
Vespera deponit. Tumulo completa reponit.
Haec sunt septenis propter quae psallimus horas."

"At Matins bound; at Prime reviled;
Condemned to death at Tierce;
Nailed to the Cross at Sext; at None
His blessed Side they pierce.
They take him down at Vesper-tide;
In grave at Compline lay,
Who thenceforth bids His Church observe
The sevenfold hours alway."

(_Gloss. Cap. I. De Missa_)

Thus, this old author connects the seven hours with the scenes of the
Passion. Another author finds in the hours a reminder and a warning that
we should devote every stage of our lives to God. For the seven
canonical hours, he writes, bear a striking resemblance to the seven
ages of man.

_Matins_, the night office, typifies the pre-natal stage of life.
_Lauds_, the office of dawn, seems to resemble the beginnings of
childhood. _Prime_ recalls to him youth. _Terce_, recited when
the sun is high in the heavens shedding brilliant light, symbolises
early manhood with its strength and glory. _Sext_ typifies mature
age. _None_, recited when the sun is declining, suggests man in his
middle age. _Vespers_ reminds all of decrepit age gliding gently
down to the grave. _Compline_, night prayer sa