Jane Austen: Forgive us our pride and prejudice

Steventon Church    (Public Domain)

As the daughter and sister of Anglican clergymen, Jane Austen was certainly no stranger to religion.  As an astute commentator on human nature, she was also no stranger to sin.

Her religious sense, plus her social sensibilities, produced original prayers that reveal this author’s underlying beliefs.  Here are excerpts from one that Austen’s sister Cassandra preserved (an abridged version of which still hangs in Saint Nicholas Church, Steventon, where Austen’s father and brother had served as rectors):

...Thou art every where present, from Thee no secret can be hid…

Teach us to understand the sinfulness of our own hearts…

Oh! God, and save us from deceiving ourselves by Pride or Vanity…

Give us a thankful sense of the Blessings in which we live, of the many comforts of our lot…

May the sick and afflicted, be now, and ever thy care…  and that thy pity may be shewn upon all Captives and Prisoners...

We implore Thee to quicken our sense of Thy mercy in the redemption of the World… that we may not, by our own neglect… be Christians in name only…

Austen concludes this and other original prayers with The Lord’s Prayer itself.

Resources

http://pemberley.com/janeinfo/ausprayr.html