mourners' bench

English

Noun

mourners' bench (plural mourners' benches)

1. A bench, seat, rail, pew, etc. set aside for mourners and repentant sinners, and is usually found at the front of a revival meeting or evangelical church.
   • 1940, Langston Hughes, Salvation:

     That night I was escorted to the front row and placed on the mourners' bench with all the other young sinners, who had not yet been brought to Jesus.

   • 1958, William Humphrey, Home From The Hill:

     But what annoyed Fred was having the christening of his son in the very best church in town spoiled by the attendance of any revivalists of the mourners’ bench sort.

   • 1992 - The Mourner's Bench from the album But, What Ends When The Symbols Shatter? by Death in June

     Something got hold of me / It ratttled around my head / Early one morning / On the mourner's bench.

Synonyms

• anxious bench
• mercy seat
• mourner's bench
• mourner's row
• mourner's seat
• mourner's stool
• mourner's pew