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Praying with Jane Austen

Praying with Jane Austen

Last updated on: June 22, 2023 at 5:10 pm by Dan Peterson

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Praying with Jane Austen 2023-06-22T17:10:30-06:00 Dan Peterson

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An 1804 watercolor of Jane Austen by her sister, Cassandra
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
It seems that one of the reasons that I so much enjoy the novels of Jane Austen is that, like her, I’m a very prim and proper early-nineteenth-century old maid.

I’m a real Jane Austen fan. Once upon a time, in fact, I worried (half seriously or, anyway, perhaps three percent seriously) that my great affection for her novels (and for every movie based upon them or upon her, excepting only and decisively the execrable 1940 Pride and Prejudice, co-written by Aldous Huxley and starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier) might cast doubt upon my masculinity. But I no longer worry: I have a friend who holds the rank of brigadier general and who took the works of Jane Austen with him on deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus, I rest my case.

Anyway, we devoted today to revisiting Jane Austen country, Particularly, we spent time again at the Church of St. Nicholas in Steventon, Hampshire, where Jane’s father, Rev. George Austen, was the rector until his retirement in 1800. (Her oldest brother, James, eventually pastored the same church.) Jane herself was born there in Steventon in 1775. It’s a beautiful little church in a beautiful but quite remote setting. As on our previous visit, I got a nervous thrill out of driving on the one-way roads in the area, being obliged to back up on several occasions when confronted by on-coming traffic.

We also visited Chawton, Hampshire — again via remarkably narrow roads bordered by thick hedges and/or by stone fences — where Jane lived from mid-1809 until shortly before her untimely death in 1817 at the age of forty-one with her by-then widowed mother and her elder sister and closest friend, Cassandra.

It was while living at Chawton that Jane published Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815). The four novels were modestly successful but, since they appeared anonymously, they left her still in quiet obscurity. (Apparently, her name appeared in print only once during her lifetime: “Miss J. Austen of Steventon, Hants” was included on a published list of subscribers for a future novel to be published by the then-famous female novelist Fanny Burney.) She wrote two more novels at Chawton — Northanger Abbey and Persuasion — that were both published in 1818, after her death, and she began another, eventually titled Sanditon, that was unfortunately left incomplete at her passing.

The Austen house still stands as a museum, and we went through it fairly thoroughly — so thoroughly, in fact, that we were obliged to give up our plan to revisit Jane’s tomb in Winchester Cathedral. I regret that.

An 1810 sketch of her sister Jane by Cassandra Austen, in pencil and watercolor.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image

Jane Austen’s novels rarely if ever include explicit discussions of religion. And, if anything, the clergymen in them tend to be buffoons. But she was the loving daughter and sister of clerics and she was herself devoutly religious.

Cassandra Austen preserved three prayers written by her sister. Each prayer was probably meant to be read or spoken by one person and then followed by all present reciting the “Our Father.” A slightly abridged version of the prayer given below was propped up on a table in St. Nicholas Church, Steventon, when we visited it today.

Give us grace, Almighty Father, so to pray, as to deserve to be heard, to address thee with our Hearts, as with our lips. Thou art every where present, from Thee no secret can be hid. May the knowledge of this, teach us to fix our Thoughts on Thee, with Reverence and Devotion that we pray not in vain.

Look with Mercy on the Sins we have this day committed, and in Mercy make us feel them deeply, that our Repentance may be sincere, & our resolutions stedfast of endeavouring against the commission of such in future. Teach us to understand the sinfulness of our own Hearts, and bring to our knowledge every fault of Temper and every evil Habit in which we have indulged to the discomfort of our fellow-creatures, and the danger of our own Souls. May we now, and on each return of night, consider how the past day has been spent by us, what have been our prevailing Thoughts, Words, and Actions during it, and how far we can acquit ourselves of Evil. Have we thought irreverently of Thee, have we disobeyed thy commandments, have we neglected any known duty, or willingly given pain to any human being? Incline us to ask our Hearts these questions 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; that we may not deserve to lose them by Discontent or Indifference.

Be gracious to our Necessities, and guard us, and all we love, from Evil this night. May the sick and afflicted, be now, and ever thy care); and heartily do we pray for the safety of all that travel by Land or by Sea, for the comfort & protection of the Orphan and Widow and that thy pity may be shewn upon all Captives and Prisoners.

Above all other blessings Oh! God, for ourselves, and our fellow-creatures, we implore Thee to quicken our sense of thy Mercy in the redemption of the World, of the Value of that Holy Religion in which we have been brought up, that we may not, by our own neglect, throw away the salvation thou hast given us, nor be Christians only in name. Hear us Almighty God, for His sake who has redeemed us, and taught us thus to pray.

Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

The Austen house in Chawton, Hampshire. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

The horrors to be found in the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™ are, quite literally, never ending. And you do realize — don’t you? — that I’m giving you only a small slice of mostly Latter-day Saint Hitchens File news, which is in its turn only a small slice of the overall ongoing catastrophe caused by religion and religious believers:

“American Red Cross Recognizes Latter-day Saint Blood Donations: More than 1.1 million units collected in Church-sponsored drives”

“BYU Nursing Students Practice ‘the Healer’s Art’ During Trip to Poland to Help Ukrainian Refugees: ‘I’ve gained a deeper respect and perspective on human life,’ says Brenna Wilkinson”

“Church Stake in California Wins Award for Efforts After Flooding: Porterville California Stake is named a state district’s nonprofit of the year for Springville flooding response through JustServe”

“JustServe Specialists Connect Wards, Stakes and Communities Through Service Opportunities: Church members may have heard of JustServe.org, but they might be less familiar with the work of JustServe specialists”

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