Tolerable Discretion in Prayer Length

“The posture of standing [in the public prayer of the church] has been objected to by some…as fatiguing to the feeble and inform. But if the officiating minister be tolerably discreet in the length of his prayers, this objection can have little or no force to those who are in ordinary health. It will, surely, rather be a relief than otherwise to stand up ten, or at most, twelve minutes when the sitting posture is to be maintained during almost the entire remainder of the time allotted to the public services.”

-Samuel Miller, Thoughts on Public Prayer (page 127).

Sometimes I wonder if I pray too long in church (and sometimes my congregants tell me I do) but by Miller’s standards I have been excessively discreet.