The North Star (Rochester)/1848/01/07/Charles Van Loon
From the Poughkeepsie Telegraph.
CHARLES VAN LOON.
An able and eloquent man has been stricken down in our midst. The Rev. Charles Van Loon, respected for his talents, and his faithfulness as a christian minister, has died in the morning of life, being only in his 29th year, and in a career of usefulness. To the First Baptist Church of which he was the devoted pastor, his loss will be great, to his wife and family irreparable, and to the community in which he lived, and where he was always ready to raise his voice for every benevolent or philanthropic movement, it will be generally mourned, as very difficult to be supplied.
Since his residence here, which has been upwards of four years, his health his been feeble, though he has been able most of the time to preach and discharge his other pastoral duties. During the last summer he left home on a tour for health, and travailed into Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and the western part of this State.
Since his return, his health has been better, and he has labored zealously in the cause to which his life was devoted. On Sabbath morning last, he preached, it was thought by its congregation, with even more than usual strength and terror; and in reply to some inquires afterwards as to his health, he replied "He never felt better in his life."
He gave out his subject for the evening, and stated his text would be "We all do fade as the leaf." Just before service, while he was engaged at his house in giving to a member of the choir the number of the hymns to be sung, he was suddenly seized with an apoplectic attack. Medical aid was immediately called, he was bled, and consciousness partially restored, but he was beyond human assistance, and died about one o'clock that night.
Thus has fallen a ripe scholar, a sound reasoner, and an able and impressive speaker. True it is, that when least expected, death aims his arrow at a shining mark.
It may be observed that his text in the morning foreshadowed his departure. It was from the sixteenth chapter of John, and at the last clause of the 32d verse, where Christ speaks of being separated from his disciples. The words are "I am not alone, because the Father is with me." And he alluded in conclusion, to the consoling fact, that the Christian was not alone in his dying hour.
The remains of the deceased were attended to the steamboat landing on Monday evening, by the Sons of Temperance, of Division No. 9, of which he was a member, and by the Rechabites, to be conveyed to Albany, where his parents reside, and where he had buried since his residence here two children. In the evening there were funeral services in the church of which he had been pastor. The building was crowded to overflowing, by the hundreds of our citizens whom he had often addressed, and by whom he was esteemed and beloved.
The following is an extract from a sermon preached in Poughkeepsie, on Monday evening, Nov. 22d, by the Rev. Mr. Ludlow.
"I never knew a man more principled in his every action, than Charles Van Loon. Nothing could intimidate or bribe him to turn aside a moment from what he believed to be the path of God's requirements, or descend from the eminence of acknowledged rectitude to a mean action. There was a magnanimity about our brother, whose character was truly enviable. It was on this account he threw himself into all the moral reforms of the day. In him, the down-trodden and the dumb of every complexion found a friend and advocate, and his voice was lifted up in every association which contemplated the ultimate overthrow of intemperance, licentiousness and slavery. It was nothing to Charles Van Loon, that the rich and polished turned the cold shoulder to these celestial enterprises. It was enough for him that they were crowned and blessed of God, and contemplated the redemption of suffering man from oppression and from crime. When Charles Van Loon was converted, he was consecrated to men as well as to God, to humanity as well as religion. As a minister of Christ, he was eminently powerfu1. Few men could command the attention of an audience, and hold the people in breathless silence, more than he. When he gave utterance to his deep convictions, in his deep and solemn tones, he made the congregation feel that the claims of Christ and of his Gospel to their respect and their confidence were real. He understood not only the system, but the philosophy of the theology he taught. His was not only the full assurance of faith, but the full assurance of the understanding."