Question:

54.2—Why do so many people use “Old English” when praying?

Answer:

54.2—Being one of those individuals who continues to use “Thee’s” and “Thou’s” when addressing the Almighty God, or His Son, Jesus Christ, I can say that it is done out of a feeling of respect and reverence for their Person and Position. Using present day pronouns seems to put the person addressed on much the same level as myself.

“Reverence towards God and the holy things connected with His name is especially to be observed. ‘God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of [His] saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him’ (Psalm 89:7). ‘Holy and reverend is His name,’ it is written again (Psalm 111:9). ‘Thou shalt reverence My sanctuary’ is twice commanded in His Holy Word (Leviticus 19:30; 26:2). The growing disregard of reverence for things sacred is lamentable, and is an indication of the last days in which our lot is cast. Even professing Christians speak of God as if He were such a one as themselves. God says, ‘These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes’ (Psalm 50:21). It is a common occurrence in the big modern evangelistic campaigns to hear God addressed in prayer as if the person praying were on very intimate terms with God, the Most High, and could approach Him as familiarly as if He were little more than themselves—in a way they would not presume to address the chief magistrate of their land.”  (Quote taken from Life and Times of Samuel the Prophet by C. Knapp)