He sings "Evening and morning and at noon I will speak and declare and
He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 54, v. 18); "I rose at midnight to give
praise to Thee" (Psalm 118, v. 162); "Seven times a day I have given
praise to Thee" (Psalm 118, v. 164).

The Prophet Daniel, a captive in Babylon, prayed thrice daily, his face
turned to Jerusalem. The Israelites, captives in Babylon with Nehemias,
"rose up and read in the book of the Law of the Lord their God, four
times in the day, and four times they confessed and adored the Lord
their God" (II. Esdras ix. 3). Hence, the Jewish day, made up as it was
with sacrifices, libations, oblations, purifications, and public and
private prayer, was a day of prayer. In these public meetings they sang
God's praises, sang of His glory and of His mercy. Sometimes they spoke
with loving familiarity, sometimes they prayed on bended knee, sometimes
they stood and pleaded with outstretched hands, pouring out the prayers
inspired by God Himself.

In the New Law our Saviour is the model of prayer, the true adorer of
His Father. He alone can worthily adore and praise because He alone has
the necessary perfection. Night and day He set example to His followers.
He warned them to watch and pray; He taught them how to pray; He gave
them a form of prayer; He prayed in life and at death. His apostles,
trained in the practices of the synagogue, were perfected by the example
and the exhortations of Christ. This teaching and example are shown in
effect when the assembled apostles were "at the third hour of the day"
praying (Acts ii. 15); when about the sixth hour Peter went to pray
(Acts x. 9). In the Acts of Apostles we see how Peter and John went at
the ninth hour to the temple to pray. St. Paul in prison sang God's
praises at midnight, and he insists on his converts singing in their
assembly psalms and hymns (Ephes. v. 19; Col. Iii. 16; I. Cor. xiv. 26).