GIVEN TO THE 
 
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IN MEMORI AM. 
 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 Pre.\ched at the Funeral of 
 
 ELIZABETH HAVEN. 
 
 / 
 
 IN THE CHAPEL OF 
 
 ROCKFORD FEMALE SEMINARY, 
 
 DECEMBER 10th, 1871, by 
 
 Rev. henry M. GOODWIN. 
 
 ROCKFORD ; 
 
 Journal Job Printing Establishment. 
 1872 . • 
 

 
 
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 DISCOURSE. 
 
 lu my Father’s House are many mansions ; if it were not so 
 I would have told you ; I go to prepare a place for you. And 
 if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and re¬ 
 ceive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may he also.— 
 John, xiv., 1-3. 
 
 With such high aud comforting words does our 
 blessed Lord seek to cheer the hearts of his disciples 
 in their hour of sorrow and approaching bereavement. 
 And these wonderful words, unlike other human utter¬ 
 ances, do not lose their power by repetition, but are as 
 fresh and true and peace-inspiring now as when they 
 were first uttered. How do they calm and soothe the 
 grief of a bereaved heart as with a strain of heavenly 
 music I How do they reach under the soul bowed 
 down with anguish, and lift it up, and transport it to 
 a region where death and darkness and sorrow are un¬ 
 known ! 
 
 Let us look a little deeper into their meaning and, 
 spirit, reniemberng that they were spoken not to the 
 eleven disciples alone, but to all who, like them, have 
 need of such consolation. 
 
 
 O 
 
Father s House: What a world of associations, 
 of pleasant memories and dear affections, docs this word 
 recall. It is the synonym of home, that sweetest, 
 dearest word in human language : only it is a better 
 word, because bearing with it the image of parental 
 ownership and love and protection. And this is the 
 word that our Saviour chooses to convey his idea of 
 deaths and his approaching departure fivm the world. 
 Death, in his mind, is only a going home^ and this not 
 merely for himself, to enjoy the blessedness and glory 
 which he had with the Father before the world was; 
 but to open a way and prepare a place for them — for 
 all his disciples to the end of time—that where he is 
 there they may be also. No mention is made here of 
 the grave. That is no house or home of man, but only 
 of the dust which the soul has left behind it. That 
 which we cling to so fondly, and weep over so bitterly, 
 and bear so tenderly to its resting place, is not the be¬ 
 ing we loved and still love. She is not here, but is 
 risen I As the withered calyx in which the bud was 
 I folded is forgotten in the blooming of the flower ; as 
 the dry and deserted cocoon is forgotten in the flight 
 of the gorgeous butterfly; so the body or dust of the 
 risen and emancipated spirit is forgotten and ignored, 
 
— 5 — 
 
 at least by the soul, in that new and higher life to 
 which it has ascended. 
 
 In the ante-Christian ages, before Christ had brought 
 life and immortality to light, the grave was the “house 
 appointed for all living/^ and imagination grovelled 
 with sense in the dust and below it, conceiving the 
 place of departed spirits under the most gloomy images, 
 as a subterranean abode of darkness and silence. Thus 
 Job describes it as “a land of darkness, as darkness 
 itself, and of the shadow of death without any order, 
 and where the light is as darkness.’^ But Christ has 
 changed all that. By his own descent into the grave, 
 he has transformed Hades into Paradise, and the pris¬ 
 on-land of darkness and the shadow of death into the 
 Father’s House, where light and beauty and joy and 
 love eternal reign. 
 
 Death is not death to the Christian, but life. Christ 
 hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality 
 to light. What we call death is a going home to our 
 Father’s House; here we are away from home; exiles 
 in a foreign land, strangers and pilgrims on the earth, 
 having no sontinuing city or permanent abode. The 
 true idea of home is never, or but faintly, realized here. 
 Memory idealizes our earthly homes, and young imagi¬ 
 nation, which sees a “splendor in the grass and a glory 
 
— 6 — 
 
 iu the flower/^ invests the humblest home with an ideal 
 glory not its own, but which belongs to the mind. But 
 our highest ideal of home will there be fully and com¬ 
 pletely realized; for “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
 neither have entered into the heart of man, the things 
 which God hath prepared for them that love him 
 There is a permanent abode, the perpetual and untir¬ 
 ing presence of kindred and friends, parental and con¬ 
 jugal and brotherly love, domestic happiness, sweet 
 communion, beauty, peace and rest. All these ideas 
 cluster around the words “Father’s House;” and these 
 are the associations which the Saviour would substitute 
 in the minds of his disciples for the dark and gloomy 
 ones which are commonly associated with death and the 
 grave. 
 
 “Ai Father^s House are many mansionsJ^ Heav¬ 
 en is a grand and spacious residence, large enough for 
 the abode of all the millions of God’s children. But 
 this is not all that is meant by these words. “ Many 
 mansions” implies that there are many abodes or houses 
 within the great house or home of our Father. Heaven 
 is not a universal sociable, nor a vast temple of worship, 
 as some conceive, “ where congregations ne’er break up, 
 and Sabbaths never end.” It is a place of domesticity 
 as well as worship, of private as well as public life. 
 
— 7 — 
 
 Our nature is individual as well as social, and needs in¬ 
 dividual centers, or single homes, where families, or 
 those allied by special kindred and affinity, may live 
 together and pursue their individual work or calling, 
 in harmony with the larger and universal society of 
 heaven. This need of a home, or mansion, that shall 
 be in some true sense our own, and where the privacies 
 and sanctities of home may be cherished and preserved 
 —this is not a necessity merely of this earthly and 
 temporal life, but a condition of ail highest and truest 
 life, and may therefore be reasonably supposed to be¬ 
 long to the heavenly state. The social separations will 
 not be so rigid and exclusive as here, where jealousies 
 and animosities and selfishness build walls of division 
 between neighbors and those who should be one. The 
 home circles will doubtless be larger and less exclusive 
 than here. But this two-fold principle of our nature— 
 the social and the individual —will find full and perfect 
 realization in the heavenly state. The representations 
 of heaven in the Apocalypse under the image of a city, 
 the New Jerusalem, with streets and walls and palaces, 
 as well as these words of the Saviour, would seem to 
 indicate this. 
 
 We might contrast these heavenly mansions with our 
 earthly homes, even the best of them, in respect of 
 
 D 
 
— 8 — 
 
 beauty and solidity and permanence, being the work, 
 not of human, but celestial, perhaps angelic, art. We 
 adorn our homes here with pictures and whatever is 
 pleasing to the eye and taste; we surround and orna¬ 
 ment them with all that is beautiful in nature and art. 
 But what is all earthly art and beauty compared with 
 that of heaven ? We construct our houses of the best 
 and most enduring materials; but how cheap the best 
 of them are in comparison with the city which John 
 saw, with its walls of jaspar, its gates of pearl, and gar¬ 
 nished with all manner of precious stones. Something 
 of the beauty and solidity of these mansions our Saviour 
 speaks of is indicated—symbolically, not perhaps liter¬ 
 ally—in that promise of Isaiah: “ Behold, I will lay 
 
 thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with 
 sapphires, and I will make thy windows of agates, and 
 thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant 
 stones.^^ And again the Apostle says—For we know 
 that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, 
 we have a building of God, a house not made with 
 hands, eternal in the heavens.’’ This solidity and eter¬ 
 nal durability of the heavenly mansions we shall one 
 day inhabit, which our friends who have died in the 
 Lord do now inhabit, stands opposed to, and should cor¬ 
 rect, that false conception which so many entertain of 
 
— 9 — 
 
 heaven, as a sort of cloud-land, shadowy, unsubstantial, 
 and almost unreal, because it is a spiritual world. Con¬ 
 trary to this, the scriptures represent it as a more real 
 and solid and substantial world than this we inhabit. 
 Its mansions are real houses, more solid and enduring, 
 as well as more stately than those we dwell in here. 
 Our houses and cities fall in the course of time, or are 
 consumed by fire; but the walls of that celestial city 
 never crumble or consume, for it is a city which hath 
 foundations^ whose builder and maker is God. 
 
 “ 1 gof says Christ to his disciples, “ to prepare a 
 place for you!^ This word indicates the love and the 
 wisdom of Christ. When a father leaves his family 
 and goes to California, or to some distant land, to find 
 or to make a new home, it is not for himself alone that 
 he goes, not to make his own fortune, or to enjoy the 
 beauty and good which he finds there, apart from those 
 he loves; but it is all for them^ to prepare a place and 
 a home for those whom he loves as his own soul. And 
 though separated for a time, the separation is cheerfully 
 borne in prospect of the glad re-union and the better 
 fortune before them. So Christ, in leaving the world 
 and going to heaven, to his Father^s house, goes 
 not for his own sake, or his own enjoyment, not merely 
 to enter into his glory after his life of toil and suffering 
 
— 10 — 
 
 here on earth. There was indeed a joy in this 
 thought both to his own heart and to those who loved 
 him, as he himself said to his disciples, If ye loved 
 me ye would rejoice because I said, I go to the Father/^ 
 But his departure to heaven was for a more benevolent 
 purpose than this, viz., to prepare a place or home for 
 his friends, his family and kindred here on earth; and 
 his love and wisdom may be trusted to prepare it well 
 
 If it be asked, how he prepares a place for them, or 
 what is the preparation which he makes, I answer, 
 there may be physical preparations needful in perfect* 
 ing and fitting up the material universe, or the many 
 mansions in his Father’s house, in a manner suitable 
 for the eternal residence of his saints. He who built 
 and prepared the earth for man’s temporal abode, may 
 not be unworthily employed in preparing worlds and 
 abodes for his future and eternal dwelling place. But 
 besides this, which of course must be beyond our 
 knowledge, there is another moral or spiritual prepara¬ 
 tion which could be effected only by his death, and 
 which is indicated by the words so often sung: “ When 
 thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst 
 open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.” 
 
 Contrast here the costly preparations which Christ 
 has made and is making to receive his friends, with that 
 
— 11 — 
 
 reception which he met with when he came into this 
 world from those he came to save. He came unto his 
 own and his own received him not. There was not 
 even room for him in human habitations to be born, but 
 he had to be born in a manger, and to be cradled—this 
 divine and heavenly babe—among the beasts of the 
 stall. 
 
 ^'‘And if 1 go and prepare a place for you^ 1 will 
 come again and receive you unto myself that where 1 
 am there ye may he also/^ Having prepared a home 
 for his children, he does not leave them to find their 
 way to it alone and unguided, but he comes back 
 himself, and takes them there. What a proof of love 
 and fidelity on the part of the Saviour does this show! 
 And what a beautiful idea of death, the death of 
 Christian believers, is here re\;^ealed! No dark and 
 fearful transition, no terrible encounter with a powerful 
 and unseen foe; but a gentle and peaceful conduct 
 by the hand of the Saviour himself to his own glo¬ 
 rious home, to the mansion in his Father’s house 
 which he has prepared for each. The fear, the suf¬ 
 fering, the conflict which we so much dread in dying, 
 are all before, and belong to this world and this 
 life. Death itself is as sweet and peaceful as an 
 infant’s slumber, and joyful as an infant’s waking on 
 
— 12 - 
 
 its mother^s bosom ! What thoujrh the transition be 
 
 Cj 
 
 an unconscious one, as often happens; the waking on 
 the other side, in heaven, is all the more blissful. As 
 a traveler journeying homeward by night, enters a 
 sleeping car many miles from home, and awakes in his 
 native city, so the Christian lies down to sleep on earth 
 and awakes in heaven ! 
 
 This coming of the Saviour for his saints, is a two¬ 
 fold coming; first at the death of the believer, when he 
 takes the cold hand which earthly friends have relin¬ 
 quished, and leads the emancipated spirit through the 
 gates into the city; and secondly, at the resurrection at 
 the last day, when he will come again to receive his 
 saints clothed in a body made like unto his own glo¬ 
 rious body;,and when the whole man, body, soul and 
 spirit, shall ascend to meet the Lord in the air; and so 
 shall they ever be with the Lord. 
 
 I hardly know with what words to speak of her whose 
 untimely death we all mourn to-day. What she was in 
 her outward life—how good and gentle and pure she 
 was—is known to all who ever saw her; for goodness 
 and gentleness and purity were written on every feature 
 of her countenance. But only those who were associat¬ 
 ed with her more intimately knew the rare worth and 
 beauty of her character. Delicate and shrinkingly 
 
sensitive as a flower, she yet did not shrink from any 
 duty that was laid upon her, and was even forward to 
 take up any burden or toil however irksome to her na¬ 
 ture, which lay in her path. Thoroughness and fidelity 
 characterized in an eminent degree all that she did. 
 This was especially manifest in the instruction given to 
 her classes, and not less in every humblest duty. Of 
 her it may be truly said : “ She have done what she 
 
 could and she did it well^ gracefully as well as thor¬ 
 oughly and heartily. Pure benevolence, free not only 
 from selfishness, but from any thought of self, seemed 
 to radiate from her presence and actions. Her sister 
 teachers have testified to the sweet simplicity and beauty 
 of her prayers, evincing the sincerity and quality of 
 her religious character. Indeed, the spirit of religion, 
 which is faith and love, mingled with all her work, and 
 shed an aroma of goodness all around her, which was 
 felt rather than seen ; so that her unconsious tuition 
 was more influential in moulding and refining the char¬ 
 acter of her pupils than any positive teaching. She 
 was connected with this institution as a teacher, about 
 four years, though not continuously, and was more and 
 more filling a large and indispensible place in the Sem¬ 
 inary, and in the hearts of all who knew her. Her 
 parents, too, were more and more looking to her as the 
 future companion and solace of their declining years. 
 
—14 — 
 
 But the Master has called her to go up higher; and 
 she has left her place and labor here, to occupy the 
 place He has prepared for her above. We will not 
 mourn for her too bitterly, certainly not as those with¬ 
 out hope. Let us rejoice rather that our loss is her 
 unspeakable gain. Let us not look at the earthward, 
 but the heavenward side of this affliction In that 
 higher sphere into which she has entered, there is scope 
 for the full unfolding and exercise of all the rare facul¬ 
 ties with which she was endowed. Her unselfish love 
 will there find a congenial atmosphere in which to 
 expatiate in selfless purity. Her love of beauty will 
 there find unlimited scope for its utmost and perfect 
 gratification. Her love of truth and ardent thirst for 
 knowledge will be fully satisfied there, with angels for 
 companions and Christ himself as teacher; for it is 
 written, “ the Lamb which is in the midst of the 
 throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living 
 
 fountains of water.^^ Happy will it be, if her pupils 
 here shall be prepared to follow her there; if they 
 shall learn from her the excellence of that Christian 
 faith which made her life so useful and beautiful, and 
 her death so peaceful and blessed. May we all so live 
 that we may meet again, not only her, but all those 
 dear ones whom Christ has taken to be with him wfflere 
 He is, in our Father’s house. 
 
OBITUARY. 
 
 The following obituary of Miss Haven was written for the 
 Congregationalist^ by one who knew her well, and was for some 
 time associated with her in the Seminary at Rockford. 
 
 Died at the Seminary in Rockford, Illinois, at four 
 o’clock P. M., Dec. 8, 1871, of Typhoid Pneumonia, 
 after a severe illness of eight days, Elizabeth Haven, 
 daughter of Rev. Prof Joseph Haven, of Chicago, to 
 whom your readers need no introduction. She was born 
 in Ashland, Mass , Dec. 15, 1843. Her early educa¬ 
 tion was conducted in New England; but her father’s 
 family having subsequently removed to Chicago, she 
 graduated at the High School in that city, and after¬ 
 wards attended Mrs Duel’s family school in Providence. 
 While there she united with Dr. Swain’s church. For 
 several years she has been an earnest and valued teacher 
 in the Young Ladies’ Seminary of this place, where her 
 loveliness of character, combined with her fine intellec¬ 
 tual abilities, was a source of help and strength and 
 culture to both the hearts and minds of the pupils com¬ 
 mitted to her care. And thus suddenly, in the midst 
 of her usefulness, has been called away one whose sin¬ 
 gular beauty of life made her akin to the angels in 
 spiritual aspirations, while she sympathized intensely 
 with the joys and sorrows of those about her. One of 
 the most prominent traits in her character was her self- 
 forgetfulness, which seemed to surround all - her words 
 
 
— 16 — 
 
 and deeds with a peculiar charm. This was so strong 
 that it could triumph over her extreme sensitiveness; 
 and though naturally shrinking from anything like 
 publicity, “ Where duty called or danger she was not 
 wanting there.Her love for all things beautiful in 
 nature or in art amounted to almost a passion. She 
 appeared to hold communion with flowers and trees and 
 birds ; and the splendors of our sunsets seemed to flood 
 her soul with a rapturous joy. And it is a delightful 
 thought that now amidst the beatiflc glories of the par¬ 
 adise of God, all the yearnings of her aesthetic nature 
 will be completely satisfled. Another marked trait in 
 her character was her thoroughness in whatever she 
 undertook as daughter, student, friend or teacher. Su¬ 
 perficial work of any kind pained her by a sense of its 
 imperfection and insincerity. And so, her daily life, 
 from the exquisite arranging of a bouquet, all through 
 the realms of mental and spiritual action to her childlike 
 faith in Christ, was characterized by a completeness as 
 beautiful as it is rare. While her estimate of herself 
 was always low, at times even painfully so, yet after 
 uniting with church those that knew her best never 
 heard her express a doubt as to her acceptance by her 
 Saviour. Hence, during those last days, she had no 
 preparation to make for an exchange of worlds, but was 
 even glad to go and be with Christ. And though her 
 time on earth measured in years was short, it was long 
 enough to be ever remembered by those that came under 
 its influence as a strain of heavenly music stealing softly 
 
—17 
 
 and soothingly upon them amidst the cares and weari¬ 
 ness of life, calling them to a quiet trust in Him she 
 loved so well. But while the Seminary, the home 
 circle, and the hearts of friends are sadly bereaved, she 
 did not leave us comfortless; but a benediction of 
 beautiful memories of her dear words and acts has 
 rested on our lives. 
 
 The funeral services were held in the Seminary chapel, 
 and conducted by Rev. H. M. Goodwin, assisted by 
 Rev. Dr. Curtis and Rev. Frank P. Woodbury. The 
 chapel was gracefully decorated with corals, shells and 
 flowers, and on the casket were placed a cross and crown 
 made by loving hands, emblematic of her faith and 
 victory, while the white flowers of which they were 
 composed fitly typified the purity of the soul that had 
 taken its joyful flight from the still form beneath. 
 
 A. 
 
 Rockford, Dec. 14, 1871. 
 
WAITING FOR US. 
 
 Earth was too dark for our lovely flower, 
 
 God took her home to Ills garden fair ; 
 
 The fragrant blossom that graced our bower 
 Is now in the angels’ tender care, 
 
 Blooming forever in paradise 
 A beautiful lily silvery-bright. 
 
 Where no clouds gather—no tempests rise. 
 Where all is harmony, love and light. 
 
 Her memory lingers—a sweet perfume 
 In the vacant arbor where we dwell ; 
 
 Never another flower can bloom 
 To All her place whom we loved so well. 
 
 Her beautiful life was a poem sweet. 
 
 Rare in its meekness, charity, faith, 
 
 God lent her to us, —then oh how fleet 
 He sent from Heaven the Angel, Death. 
 
 The flower was blighted,—God took the germ ; 
 
 We gazed on the casket,—the soul had fled : 
 Like a delicate rose, the prey of the worm 
 The form we loved lay silent and dead ; 
 
 But the spirit-blossom is living yet 
 More fragrant far in the Saviour’s care, 
 
 She waits for us ; when life’s sun is set 
 We shall meet in the heavenly arbors lair. 
 
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