Bishop, i thank you for many things, but especially the decades of guidance you gave to elijah. That almost exactly 21 me on thehe invited sunday before the election. I love that he introduced the staff, because we would all be dead without the people who were helping us. If you are president your staff is always trying to tell you why your staff why you shouldnt do something or shouldnt go somewhere. Tuesday, sunday before the election. I get why would you want to go to an africanamerican church, but why would you want to go to baltimore . They are so good to you, they always vote for you. Go for Elijah Cummings . He has been in the house for 15 minutes. Feeling this is something we all got to do. And we all do it, we will know whether it was right or not. Are were of people there. You may remember, we got in some trouble. People had criticized us for having a get out the vote event in a church. They said it was inappropriate. As i remember, elijah reminded people that our constitutional rights, including the freedom of , freedom of assembly, the freedom of speech, depended on people giving voice to them in elections. In the debate. Then, i got to listen to elijah talk that day. You talk about a lousy deal i had to follow both the bishop should and Elijah Cummings. At least i am getting in ahead of you president obama today. [laughter] [applause] pres. Clinton in my old age, i am the warmup act, i am glad to do it. Anyway, elijah was great. And he ended with his quiet and reasoned and rhythmic voice growing into his booming voice, quoting that wonderful verse from the 40th chapter of isaiah, saying wait upon the lord. They will have their strength renewed. They will wind up with wings of eagles. They will walk and faint not. He kept going more and more. The crowd was going crazy. Over the course of these last few days, i have had the chance to think a lot about elijahs life. He really did sort of mirror isaiah. He had one of the greatest oneliners in the history of human affairs. When the lord asked who shall i send and who will go for me, isaiah said, here i am, lord. Send me. Elijah cummings spent a whole life saying send me, an entire lifetime. [applause] pres. Clinton he was not even a teenager when he hauled down to the Swimming Pool to integrate it, and for his trouble gets banged on the head with a glass bottle, leaving him a lifetime scar, which he bore with honor. And then the people of baltimore sent him to annapolis, and then you sent him to washington. On behalf of the rest of the nation, i would like to thank you. You did a good thing. And i was looking over all the things that he worked on, just in the four years we were together. He was elected the year i was reelected, 1996. He had this amazing array of interests. But we all know now that at least until certain things happened, his legacy is how ardently he honored his oath to protect and defend the constitution of the united states. I think he did it for a lot of reasons. He loved the fact that his parents humble lives made his a Great American story, and he loved that it confirmed his faith. He knew without the laws of the constitution, the rights guaranteed by it, and the abuses it was designed to prevent without that constitution, he would not have been in congress. And so he said to himself, i am certain every day, i will not let this promise be sullied. And he did his best. [applause] pres. Clinton and while doing his best, fighting his heart out, sticking up for hillary and lots of other people, many of whom were voiceless and weak and will never be known while doing all that, he actually made, in one of the most turbulent periods of our countrys history, a lot of republican friends. Why did he do that . How did he do that . I think he did it because everybody could see he was the real deal. He believed. His heart was in it. And i think he did it because no matter how hard he fought and how passionately he argued, he tried to treat everybody the way he wanted to be treated, the way he thought americans should be treated. You cant run a free society if you have to hate everybody you disagree with. I mean, sooner or later, if you have been married 45 years and both of you are thinking, you are going to have a disagreement or two. If you are in a business or a team, or in a campaign, and you are thinking, you are going to have disagreements. He believed that he should treat people the way he wanted to be treated, and he believed if everybody accepted his broad, enduring, and inclusive definition of one america, where we respect our differences and think what we have in common matters more, and we all live under the same set of rules, and we all believe that under those rules, those of us who have more than we need should do more to help those who do not have enough, then everything would work out ok. Now, thats what he believed. And being friends he was so proud that he could help resolve the personal spat between his republican congressional friend and a new member of the democratic caucus. But he believed. So here is what i want to leave you with. Elijah spent his working life in the tradition of isaiah. He went again and again and again. But i think in his Lasting Legacy to us, we should think again about the prophet elijah for this reason. He was about to be killed for his ardent promotion of his faith. He hid in a cave. Either within or next to mount sinai. He received a message from god to go up and stand on top of the mountain, and wait for the voice of god to speak to him. He had already had a pretty hard time. Just like at the end of elijahs life, he has already had a pretty hard time. You have to go through this too . So there is elijah standing on the mountain, and a huge wind came, so strong it broke the rocks of the mountain, but the lord was not in the wind. Then an earthquake came, shaking everything, but the lord was not in the earthquake. Then the fire came, but the lord was not in the fire. And then, what does the scripture say . A still, small voice. [scattered applause] pres. Clinton elijah by this point had gotten rid of all the pomp, all the circumstance, all the glory. But still, small voice. I love this man. I loved every minute i ever spent with him, every conversation we ever had. I loved his booming voice. But we should hear him now in the quiet times at night and in the morning, when we need courage, when we get discouraged and we dont know if we can believe anymore. We should hear him. [applause] pres. Clinton let our elijah be for us what he himself heard a still, small voice that keeps us going, keeps us grateful, keeps us happy, and keeps us moving. Thank you and god bless you. [applause] [organ music]