The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-14
WILL Be RECONSECRAT TED,
Emmanuel Church to Be
Formally RedediCated
To-Day.
Rev. Mr.. Gibson VIII Preach in the
Morning and EVening-The
Arrangement

Emmanuel Baptist Church is to be re,
consecrated and opened for divine service
to-day. The building has been thoroughly
repaired and renovated, and with the help
of bright floral decorations has been made
to look quite attractive again. The part
of the church where service was held was
never much injured by the investigations
made by the police, and soap and water
aided by brushing and busting, have been
all that were required to rcnovate that
part of the church.
The main staircase and the corridor
have been painted and papered afresh, for
| they were considerably damaged during
the search for evidence of the crime.
The police were still in charge of the
building yesterday, though Dr. Gibson's
secretary explained that it was at the re-
| quest of the trustees and other mem bers OF
| the church, in order to keep at bay curious
sightseers. The ladies of the congregation
were freely permitted to enter by the
guardians of the law and there were num-
bers of them working upon the decorations
Yesterday. In this occupation they were
aided by young men belonging to the
church, while the pastor fitted here and
there, experimenting the arrangements
The baptistry curtain was made a mass
of ferns, ivy, magnoli9s and roses. Big
red peoples were put all over the choir
screen and masses of roses and other sum-
mer flowers of more gorgeous hue were
sprinkled round the platform, and when
these arrangements were complete those
who had a hand in them glanced round the
church with satisfaction. 1t looked so
clean and light that the workers found it
difficult to imagine q gloomy thought con-
nected with the place, much less tragedy.
But the tragedy will be suggested to-day
by the entire emptiness of the gallery.
Admission to all the services is to be by
ticket only and enough tickets have been
given away to pack the body of the church
at each of the three services, but however
dense the crowd IS not a creature will be
admitted upstairs.
The reason given for this is that the gal
lery has door leading to the belfry, and
it is feared that the curiosity of the wor-
shippers would get the better of them if
they were allowed to go in such close prox-
unity to this door, and that instead OF
singing psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs they would be organizing parties to
steal off and explore the belfry. To keep
visitors out of temptation, therefore, the
gallery is to be closed.
The fact is that no one need go to the
| services in the morbid hope of exploring
the church. Policemen, in plain clothes
| it is true, but armed with all the authority
OF the law, Will be stationed about the
building to aid the trustees and ushers in
seeing that the strictest order and decorum
are observed and that no mere Sightseeing
curiosity is gratifed.
DR.. Gibson will preach both morning
and evening. His first text will be 1.-THE
Builder Among the Ruins" from the
eighty-ninth Psalm, and his second
Broken IDEALS from Philippians. The
morning service will open with the
Doxology, followed by the conservation
prayer. There will be good deal OF
music in the service. including solo by
u. c. Campbell. Over twenty local
pastors have been invited to participate in
the afternoon service.
Rev. V. P BnVnton of the First Rantist