Austen’s gravestone, in the north aisle of the [Winchester] Cathedral nave, notes that she died after a long illness “supported by the patience and the hopes of a Christian.”
As an Anglican—and daughter of a clergyman—in the early nineteenth century, Jane Austen was familiar with the poetry and prose of the Book of Common Prayer through attendance at church services, but she also developed personal habits of prayer. We know something about the way Jane might have prayed and the language she used, for she wrote several prayers which were probably recited in the family home before bed. One includes the passage
“Teach us almighty Father, […] that we may feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes, and earnestly strive to make a better use of what thy goodness may yet bestow on us, than we have done of the time past.”