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Full funeral memorial service for prominent Minnesotan Hubert H. Humphrey, broadcast live from the House of Hope Presbyterian Church. Service includes eulogies, music and many noted speakers, including Walter Mondale and the Rev. Robert Schuller.

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[ORGAN MUSIC] SPEAKER: This prelude of organ music by JS Bach, was played by House of Hope organist, Sharon Kleckner President Carter's limousine has just arrived at the front of the House of Hope Presbyterian Church here in St Paul. Took him about 30 minutes to arrive from the Twin Cities International Airport. The hearse carrying the casket of Senator Humphrey arrived about 15 minutes ago.

[ORGAN MUSIC]

Now in just a moment, the congregation will be asked to stand, and the casket will be brought in from the back of the sanctuary. During that last piece of music, President Carter arrived at the church. The congregation is now standing. And the casket was brought in from the hearse.

Well, we have a few minutes here. Let me briefly run down the order of this funeral service.

Casket is now being brought down the church. The casket is being borne by six pallbearers. They are Fred Gates, Humphreys administrative assistant in Minnesota, David Gartner, his chief aide in Washington, and four members of the family-- son-in-law Bruce Solomonson. And sons Douglas, Robert, and Hubert Horatio III, or Skip.

After the family is seated, there will be an instrumental prelude, violinist Isaac Stern and pianist Eugene Istomin, will play the first movement of the Brahms sonata no. 1 in G major. Robert Merrill will sing Schubert's "Ave Maria."

The invocation will be given by Calvin Didier, Pastor of the House of hope Presbyterian Church and a friend of the late Senator. The congregation will join the choir in a hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Rabbi Max Shapiro, the senior rabbi at Temple Israel in Minneapolis, will give the Old Testament lesson-- today the 8 Psalm.

Then there will be two spirituals. The first a solo by Tom Tipton "He'll Understand Well Done," then "I'm Going Up Yonder," sung by the Choir of the Sabathani Baptist Church of Minneapolis. Those spirituals will be followed by the remarks of Dr. Robert Schuller of Garden Grove Community Church near Los Angeles. He's also the pastor of the Hour of Power television program seen on Sundays in many parts of this country.

Robert Merrill will sing "The Lord's Prayer." The most Reverend John Roach, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul in Minneapolis, will read chapter 14 from the Book of John in the New Testament. Then there will be an anthem, sung by the House of Hope Choir.

Vice President Mondale and President Jimmy Carter will each deliver brief remarks. Mr. Stern and Istomin will return with a second movement of the Brahms sonata. Mr. Didier will offer his meditation and prayers. The congregation will join in singing "America the Beautiful." Reverend Didier will give the benediction.

The choir will sing the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah. And that will conclude the service. Burial will follow at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.

The casket is now at the front of the sanctuary. Flag being draped over it.

Approximately 30 members of the Humphrey family are here for this service. Of course, they include the Senator's widow, Muriel, and the rest of the immediate family, daughter Nancy Solomonson, and sons Douglas, Robert, and Skip, their spouses, their children. Senators two sisters are here-- Frances Howard and Fern Baines. Also, several relatives from here in South Dakota, where the Humphrey Drugstore is still operating. Many of Muriel Humphrey's relatives are here as well.

The congregation has now been seated. Mr. Stern and Mr. Istomin will be offering the instrumental prelude.

[ORGAN MUSIC]

[ROBERT MERRILL, "AVE MARIA"]

SPEAKER: Baritone Robert Merrill with "Ave Maria." And now, Pastor Calvin Whitfield Didier, pastor of the House of hope Presbyterian Church, will give the invocation.

CALVIN WHITFIELD DIDIER: From the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, the Lord's name is to be praised. For the Earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. The world, and that dwell therein. Therefore, whether we live, we live unto the Lord. Or whether we die, we die unto the Lord.

Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything in creation, shall separate us from the love of God. We know in Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us pray.

Eternal force that holds the spiraling galaxies in tension, hold us at attention. If it is not too much to ask, attend our meaningless without you ceremonies in memory of Hubert Horatio Humphrey. Storm maker, flake maker, maker of men in the image of God.

In the dead of winter, blaze our hearts with circles of care around us to hold back the cold a little stronger. Stay the sun in his brief circuit above us until we are able to finish our Ajalon.

Quicken our mornings with high expectations and create an outlook of rare beauty on all our windowpanes that we may look upon the mighty works of the Lord and wonder that he is mindful of such a man as his servant-- Hubert. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[THE HOUSE OF HOPE CHOIR, "A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD"]

SPEAKER: The congregation joined the House of Hope Choir in singing the hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." Funeral service for Senator Humphrey continues with the Old Testament lesson by Rabbi Max Shapiro.

RABBI MAX SHAPIRO: With our friend. And very often he embraced each one of us. And I embrace him now for all of us, for the last time. As I read words from the 8 Psalm, thanking God for giving us this remarkable man.

O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is thy name in all the Earth. When I behold thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established, what is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou thinkest of him.

Yet thou hast made him but little lower than the angels. And has crowned him with glory and honor. Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet-- sheep and oxen, all of them, ye, and the beasts of the field. The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea.

O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is thy name in all the Earth.

SPEAKER: Read by Rabbi Max Shapiro, Temple Israel in Minneapolis. Baritone Tom Tipton now with the spiritual.

[TOM TIPTON, "HE'LL UNDERSTAND AND SAY WELL DONE"]

(SINGING) If when you gave the best of your service

Telling the world that the Savior is come

Be not dismayed when friends won't believe you

He'll understand and say, "Well done"

But when you try and fail in your trying hands

So ensconced from the work you have done

Take up your cross

Go quickly to Jesus

He'll understand and say, "Well done"

Oh, when I come to the end of my I journey

Weary of life and the battle is won

Caring the staff and the cross of redemption

He'll understand and say, and say, "Well done"

[CHOIR OF SABATHANI BAPTIST CHURCH, "I'M GOING UP YONDER"]

(SINGING) Where I'm going?

Where I'm going, soon

If anybody ask you Where I'm going

Where I'm going soon

I'm goin' up yonder

I'm goin' up yonder

I'm goin' up yonder

To be with my Lord

I can take the pain

The heartaches they bring The comfort in knowing

I'll soon be gone

As God gives me grace

I'll run this race

Until I see my Savior

Face to face

I'm goin' up yonder

I'm goin' up yonder

To be with my Lord

I'm goin' up yonder

I'm goin' up yonder

To be with my Lord.

If anybody ask you

Where I'm going?

Where I'm going, soon

If anybody ask you

Where I'm going?

Where I'm going, soon

Tell them for me

I'm goin' up yonder

I'm goin' up yonder

I'm goin' up yonder

To be with my Lord

I'm goin' up yonder

I'm goin' up yonder

I'm goin' up yonder

To be with my Lord Life

I can take the pain

And the heartache

The heartaches

The heartaches they bring

The comfort in knowing

Want to be the same Whatever be the name

I'll soon be gone

As God give me grace

I'm gonna run

I'm gonna run

I'm gonna run this race

Until I see Jesus

Until I see Jesus

Face, face,

Face to face

My life and I'll be undone

Going up yonder

Going up yonder

To be with my Lord

Lord

I'm goin' up yonder

I'm goin' up yonder

I'm goin' up yonder

To be with my Lord

SPEAKER: The Sabathani Baptist Church Choir of Minneapolis, preceded by a baritone soloist, Tom Tipton.

ROBERT SCHULLER: Muriel, Nancy, more often than you or I could count, you've heard me say to you and to Hubert, God loves you and so do I. And it's easy for me to say that sentence today. But the next sentence, which you've heard just as often, is not easy, but I know he wants me to say it, especially after that number. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Because Hubert Humphrey, as of this morning, has finished his last, his hardest, and his best campaign. He know and he knows what victory celebrations are like. And he wanted this to be a victory celebration with a banners flying-- Hubert Humphrey winning by a landslide. The last vote is it. He is declared by the Americans to be super successful.

Because we know what a success is. A success is a person who builds self-esteem into somebody who didn't think they were anything. He was a super success. And I suppose we could ask the question, what was the secret of it? Some optimism? Yes. Enthusiasm? Definitely. Bounce back ability? You bet. Possibility thinking? For sure.

But to capsule it in one word, I would call it courage. He had the big C, the big courage. I ask three questions. What is courage? Where does it come from? And why do we exalt it today in him?

Courage. What is it? It's not the absence of fear. There are people that know no fear, but neither are they courageous, for they never dare to attempt to do something great for their fellow human beings. These are words that Hubert liked. We spent time sharing favorite quotations, and this was one of his and mine.

I'd rather attempt to do something great and fail, than attempt to do nothing and succeed. That's courage. Being willing to commit your prestige to a great cause. He had it. The big C. And it was evidence in many ways. Obviously, the courage to campaign, and every person here in political office knows what courage that takes.

But think of this. He had the courage to love. I'm often asked, why isn't there more love in the world today? And I always answer it the same way. It's the wrong question. The right question is, why isn't there more courage?

You see, it takes nerve to love. For when you really love, you get involved. When you get involved, you get swept away. And before you know it, you've made a commitment. And then you run the risk of failure. And so perhaps rejection. It takes courage to love. He had it.

And some people have fame as leadership in battle. And some people have fame as leadership in culture. In my mind, and I think in yours, Hubert Humphrey gained his fame in leadership, in love. He had the courage to love. And that was so evidenced by his courage to forgive.

After all, you have to be able to forgive quickly or you won't love for long. And it takes courage to forgive. Because you see you, you run the risk of receiving the rebuke and the insult and the scorn of those whose scales of justice weigh too heavy, and their scales of mercy are too light.

He dared to love. And he dared to forgive. The big C. What is it? It's the backside of love. That's really what courage is. And when people say they don't have courage, it really means they don't love enough to be willing to go to a cross.

And love in the final analysis is my deciding to make your problem, my problem. That explains a lot of his public life, doesn't it? What is it? Where does it come from? We're not born with it, that's for sure. Long before Erik Erikson gave us his brilliant phases of human life and told us that for the first 12 months, we lack trust. We're born non-trusting creatures long before that.

We all knew we were born non-courageous persons. Well, I suppose people draw courage from different sources. And I was close enough to know where Hubert Humphrey drew his courage. First, of course, from his father and his mother, and continually through his family. From a wife like you, Muriel, from children like you, and grandchildren, and friends in Waverly.

You know what? All of the eulogies, and all of the accolades that have been offered to him, and he's deserved every one. But at a deeper level, they are all subtly and unintentionally, but truthfully compliments to his family and to his marriage.

That's where he drew his faith and courage. Where did he get it? I remember, when was it 76 hours before he went into surgery at Sloan Kettering and he called me. He said, thank you, Bob. Thank you. Thank you for what you did, he said. For the words, all I sent him was a Bible verse.

He said the words, the words are tremendous. Jeremiah 29:11 was, God is speaking. I have a plan for your life. It is a plan for good and not evil. It is a plan to give you a future with hope.

And then I think it was October when we were in the apartment. And he really didn't want to go back to Washington for a moment. It was a bad scene in his body. And these were the words. He drew so much strength from them. Isaiah 43-- Fear not, for when you go through the waters, they will not overflow you. When you go through the fire, it will not consume you. For I have redeemed you, I know your name. You are mine. I will be with you.

I remember how he said. Those are great words. Again, where are they? And he had to remember them. I know where he drew his courage. He drew it from the deep wellspring of a faith that had its roots in a family and in the word of God. And I will always remember how he said to me. One of the last things I remember him saying. It was a question, actually.

He said, Bob, why is it lately that when the thought of Jesus comes into my life, I want to shed tears of joy?

He knew where to find it. Courage, what is it? It's the backside of love. Where do you find it? He found it in his family, and in the word of God, and in Jesus. And why do we exalt it? I mean, there are people that are inspired by courage, mismanaged of course, and misdirected to commit themselves to projects, and dreams, and goals that turn out to be losers and heartbreakers.

And why do we exalt courage? Courage to dare to do the impossible, to be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause. When you'll come out scarred, why do we exalt it?

Because the alternative is unthinkable. Unthinkable. At the bottom line of your life and mine, our immortal souls will have to stand up before the judgment seat of this almighty question. Did I too some small or significant or minor or major degree in my lifetime? Did I inspire somebody to have greater faith in themselves?

Courage, of course. It's what uncovers possibilities. And without that, there is no salvation. There is no redemption. There is nothing creative in life. It was horse man, I think, who said it. "Be embarrassed to die until you've scored a victory for humanity."

He scored his victories, and many of them. Ultimately, courage alone lifts the collective self-esteem in society. And when we do that, you can be sure we are glorifying God and enjoying him forever.

There were some other words that he liked. He liked them. He lived them. When faced with a mountain, I will not quit. I will keep on striving until I climb over, find a pass through tunnel underneath, or simply stay and turned the mountain into a gold mine with God's help.

We share to you today, a great faith, in a great God, whom he loved. And that's why when Christmas came and they didn't know what to put in the card, Hubert and Muriel used those words-- God loves you, and so do we. That's Merry Christmas.

Scrawled in the basement of a shell torn home in West Berlin. Were these words by the Star of David. I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining. I believe in love, even when I do not have it. I believe in God, even when he is silent.

Take that kind of a faith and you'll come to your end and discover that it's not the end of the road, but a bend in the road. And for you too, it will be like it was for Hubert Humphrey-- pride behind you, love around you, and hope ahead of you. God bless you, Muriel, Nancy, everybody. God loves you, so do I.

SPEAKER: Dr. Robert Schuller, Garden Grove Community Church in California. Now again, Robert Merrill.

[ROBERT MILLER, "THE LORD'S PRAYER"]

Our Father

Which art in heaven

Hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come

Thy will be done

On Earth

As it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors And

Lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power

And the glory forever

Amen.

SPEAKER: Robert Merrill singing "The Lord's Prayer." The New Testament lesson will be given by Reverend John Roach, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul in Minneapolis.

JOHN ROACH: We who are but a microcosm, the thousands and thousands of lives touched by Hubert Humphrey, mourn his death. But today we celebrate our belief that Jesus, whom he knew and loved, has invited him to his home to be there for eternity.

And that promise Jesus gave in the 14th chapter of John. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God and faith in me. In my Father's house, there are many dwelling places. Otherwise, how could I have told you that I was going to prepare a place for you? I am indeed going to prepare a place for you. And then I shall come back to take you with me that where I am you also may be. You know the way that leads where I go.

Lord, said Thomas, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus told him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. If you really knew me, you would know my father also. From this point on, you know Him, you have seen him.

I solemnly assure you, the man who has faith in me will do the works I do, and greater far than these. Why? because I go to the Father, and whatever you ask in my name, I will do. So as to glorify the Father in the Son. Anything you ask me in my name, I will do. If you love me and obey the commands I give you.

I will not leave you orphaned. I will come back to you. A little while now and the world will see me no more. But you see me as one who has life and you will have life. On that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Anyone who loves me will be true to my word, and my Father will love him. We will come to him, and make our dwelling place with him. Peace is my farewell to you, my peace is my gift to you. I do not give it to you as the world gives peace. Do not be distressed or fearful. Come then, let us be on our way.

[ORGAN MUSIC]

SPEAKER: The anthem sung by the House of Hope Choir. And here is Vice President Walter Mondale.

WALTER MONDALE: Yesterday, our nation honored Hubert Humphrey in a wonderful outpouring of affection. Hubert would have liked it. But today is an even more special day. The day Hubert comes home to Minnesota, for the last time, to rest in the place he loved best, and the place which gave him spiritual and political sustenance.

While he was an international figure and a national figure, as we in Minnesota well-knew, he was always a Minnesotan and always a son of the prairie. There was something in this land, and its lakes, and especially its people that fed the springs of love, the streams of ideas, the torrents of enthusiasm, and which nurtured the special genius and the immense humanity of Hubert Humphrey.

There was a kind of unity of integrity in this love affair with the people of Minnesota that permitted Hubert's idealism to flower. He was a special man in a special place, and I know he would want me to say today, thank you, Minnesota.

That mutual affection was important for in a democracy, a leader can only pursue greatness if the people will let him. The people of Minnesota not only let him, they encouraged him, and are in a true sense, a part of his greatness. I loved what a deputy sheriff was reported as saying yesterday in the paper.

He said the people of this county thought he was an A1 OK cat, and that's what Minnesotans think. Carl Sandburg once said of another American hero, you can't quite tell where the people leave off and where Abe Lincoln begins. What was true of Lincoln was surely as true of Hubert.

He could not be separated from his people. Muriel, you have heard words of praise for Hubert from many people and places. They are genuine, and they reflect the deep affection for your husband and our friend.

But beyond words, I think last night when we went to the State Capitol and saw masses of people, who stood for hours in the severe cold and burst into spontaneous song of celebration when you arrived, that this confirmed if there was any doubt, and there's none, that this state loved Hubert in a very special way.

Yesterday I spoke to you about Hubert. Today I would like to say, Hubert, your memory lifts our spirits just as your presence did. And though these days have been especially long and emotionally draining, you would have been very proud of Muriel, who has received in your absence the gifts of love with dignity and courage and strength.

With her here, your spirit, your joy, your good heart remains with us. Muriel, you have been an immense part of the life we celebrate today, for 41 years of marriage and before that. You were the force and the infinite resource which sustained this wonderful man.

You have shared his triumphs and disappointments, and you have been equal to his overwhelming love and returned it to him in a way that made possible for him to be the buoyant creature he was. As usual, Hubert said it best when he dedicated the story, his basic book on his life to Muriel he said this-- "To Muriel, my partner and sweetheart, who has made my way easier, my life fuller, and without whom I could not have reached out to be what I wanted to be."

What the people of Minnesota have been to him in a general way, you have been in a personal and specific way. Without you, Hubert would have had to struggle far harder to reach the esteem he did.

Ultimately, the nation has learned what we who were privileged to know him longest and best knew first, that Hubert was an incomparable creator of great plans and grand designs, but that the big picture, the master program never, never replaced what was the essence of Hubert Humphrey.

The ability to touch an individual life, often the life of a stranger, if there were any strangers in his life, and make those lives better and more joyous. Hubert loved people in the mass, but he also loved each human being in an almost saintly way. He had time for everybody, which is why he was always late.

There was an article in The Washington Post yesterday that said it nicely. He instructed his staff not to schedule him so tightly. When he walked through the halls of Congress, he wanted to be able to spend as much time as possible with ordinary people. He said, I can rush by people or I can go by and be good and gentle, maybe say a little word to somebody and take a little time.

Don't be worried if I'm a little late or something like that. I'm going to take some time to say hello to some kids. The mayor of Waverly said this weekend. If he met someone, the next time he saw them, he remembered his name. He had a fantastic memory. My children met him at his home, and when he went to visit the school, he remembered them by name.

It was really more than a fantastic memory. It was a will to reach out and to say, I know you. You are an individual. And people knew he felt that way. A politician may fake it for an hour or maybe a day, but you can't fake it for a lifetime.

To Hubert, it didn't make any difference where you were or where you came from. Hubert was the ultimate ecumenical spirit. He was the Pope John of American politics. He accepted no distinctions which denied humanity in each individual-- race, age, religion, ethnic origin, color, economic class, sex, made no difference to Hubert Humphrey.

He never found a person who was not worthy of his time, concern and love. Where others wearied, he took strength. Where others turned aside, he embraced. Where others snarled, he smiled. Where others spoke in bitterness, he spoke in love. He was a universal man, and that is why he struggled with problems of world hunger and poverty, education, and medical care of basic human conditions.

That's why he worried, as few others did, about the issues of arms and nuclear Holocaust. Hubert may have been wrong sometimes. He never claimed to be perfect. But when he was wrong, it was never a matter of the heart. Because Hubert was a man of great and good heart.

I have tried since yesterday to find a conclusion that was different, to say in another way what I felt about Humphrey. But I couldn't. So I'd like to repeat it again. Hubert told us all how to hope and how to love, how to win and how to lose. He taught us how to live. And finally, he taught us how to die.

SPEAKER: Vice President Walter Mondale. Now stepping up to the pulpit President Jimmy Carter.

JIMMY CARTER: Not too long ago, I invited Senator Humphrey to go to Camp David, to spend a weekend with me. He had never been there before, and he was very effusive in his thanks, telling me over and over how great a favor I had done for him.

It was the greatest favor I ever did for myself. We spent two days on top of a mountain, in front of a fireplace just talking and listening.

We talked about people. Common, ordinary people and great people in our country and all around the world. With some he had had very friendly and good relations. They had always supported him in his campaign and always had good things to say about him.

Others had sometimes disappointed him, and he had not always had their support. But he never said a word of criticism.

He tried to search in his own mind, no matter who it was, and find something good to say. We talked about pain, about the physical pain that I could see that he was bearing.

We talked about the pain of losing a political campaign. We talked about the pain of frustration, when you have high hopes and great dreams and human fallibilities won't let you realize them all. But I never detected in any of his words, any bitterness.

Yesterday, I was honored to speak about Hubert Humphrey at the Nation's Capitol. I talked about what he had meant to our own nation. But he knew as I know and Vice President Mondale knows, that one of the responsibilities of those who serve in the White House is to look beyond our nation's borders, to foreign countries.

He traveled a lot. And he told me about the world leaders with whom he had met. He told me about the months during the Vietnam War when he was vice president. And how when he rode down the streets or got off the airplane or visited a college campus, with his heart full of love.

Quite often he didn't see love in the faces of the crowds who faced him. He didn't see love on the signs and the banners that confronted him and his president.

He had a yearning for peace. And we talked about the mechanisms of peace. Not always a popular subject for political figure in a nation that's proud of its military strength and its great influence. But in a quiet and unpublicized way because of what was in him.

He was the expression of the good and decent and peaceful attributes of our great, strong, powerful nation.

He was always dedicated to breaking the log jams and the Cold War. He expressed a deep hope that we and the Soviet Union might reach agreements on difficult questions and resolve long standing differences and get to know each other.

And search for a way to reduce the mad scramble for superiority in nuclear weapons. We talked about the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, set up now to negotiate, how we might reduce and perhaps eliminate atomic weapons. And I discovered almost by accident that the author of that legislation was Hubert Humphrey.

We talked about the sale of military weapons to other nations, particularly the poor nations, the developing nations, the hungry nations, who respond to the temptations of technological progress and the threats from border states, and come to us above all others and other nations as well, to buy guns and ammunition to kill.

We're trying to change that policy, and we talked about it. And the mechanism under which we are trying to reduce our own participation in the marketing of weapons is his legislation. One of the most difficult questions that a president has to face, or even a member of Congress, is foreign aid. It's not popular in our country to be for foreign aid programs.

But one of the stalwart defenders of our foreign aid program, the leader in the Congress was Hubert Humphrey. He didn't see foreign aid as a giveaway program. He didn't see foreign aid as billions of dollars going from our nation to others. He saw human needs.

We talked about the sick people that he had seen overseas with no medical care at all. And the unbelievable hunger that he had seen in families where the average income for a whole nation was sometimes less than $0.25 a person a day.

So he saw foreign aid as a great investment from a rich nation, a pittance almost compared to what we earn and have that builds up a wellspring of friendship between us and those hungry people.

We talked about the newly developing interest in our own government toward Africa, not more than a year or two old. But it was not new to Hubert Humphrey. He was familiar with Africa, the nations therein, the people who lived there, their hopes and yearnings and frustrations and desire to be something and to have their own governments.

He knew about Asia and he knew about Indonesia. And he talked about these things not as a lecturer, but almost as a representative of those people, not just Minnesota. He reached beyond our borders.

It was a long time after my mother went to the Peace Corps that I knew. That the Peace Corps was Hubert Humphrey's idea. It was an idea that he put forward a long time ago, and it was eventually adopted and put into effect when John Kennedy was president.

An opportunity for American young people to go overseas for, I think, $11 a month, and get to know other people and serve them. And along with Senator McGovern, he initiated the idea of the foods-- Food for Peace program.

He and I talked about religion. About how deep his faith had grown since he became very ill. We talked about sin. And how we know that everyone sins and we fall short of the glory of God, but how God forgives us.

Just a few days ago, I was in India, and I was visiting the tomb of the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, where his body was cremated. And I didn't think about Senator Humphrey, I have to admit it, until I started to leave, and one of the Indian leaders took me over to a wall. And there on the wall, there was a quote from Gandhi, and the title of it was "The Seven Sins."

And when I saw that, I thought about Senator Humphrey's discussion on sin, and I jotted it down. According to Gandhi, the seven sins are wealth without works, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principle.

Well, Hubert Humphrey may have sinned in the eyes of God, as we all do. But according to those definitions of Gandhi's, it was Hubert Humphrey without sin.

SPEAKER: President Carter. And now here are violinist Isaac Stern and pianist Eugene Istomin.

[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC]

Music of Johannes Brahms played by Isaac Stern and Eugene Istomin.

The meditation will be offered now by the Reverend Didier.

CALVIN DIDIER: Let there be no eulogy. I have had enough eulogy for two lives. Instead, let us have a celebration of life for me, for my family, and for the people of the little towns all over Minnesota. And let there be congregational singing, and music, and happiness. No sympathy for me.

Muriel and I have had a wonderful life. And with these simple words, a few days ago, Hubert Horatio Humphrey instructed us how to commemorate these great times of life we have had together. Now if we would seem to be somewhat in violation of the rules, who knew how to break the rules any more wonderfully and enthusiastically than Hubert Humphrey himself?

And in fact, the last time this congregation ever had a service, this long, was when Hubert himself was the preacher, if you could believe it.

[LAUGHTER]

But it is that same spirit with which he spoke that peeked from out his frailing body a few weeks ago when he came back to Minnesota, asked if he were considering resignation, he snapped, I am not resigning anything. I might even join something. Well, now he has joined that splendid Congress of those to whom we dare say the words, "well done, how good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.

This audacious spirit in the face of adversity is imitative of our Lord when he invited in his friends for one festive Last Supper together. And before they went out to Gethsemane, they sang a hymn. Now, true to the example of those earliest followers of our Lord, we have sung together as our friend at his own request, bid us do sing "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," for it was an expression of his Christian faith and life.

And he wanted his friends gathered about his memory to make music and spoke hopefully that good friends, Eugene Istomin, and Isaac Stern, and Robert Merrill could find the way to come. And all of us gather here for these happy times.

When Senator Humphrey asked us to celebrate with music, he was reminiscing in his own love for the opera, and the symphony, and the recital, and all the popular forms, and hoping that what music did for him, it would do for us all.

One day here he was introducing Mr. Istomin who was the key to our relationship together at House of Hope Church. He gave the congregation these lines-- how many of us ever stopped to think of music as the wondrous magic link with God, taking sometimes the place of prayer when words have failed us beneath the weight of care? Music, that knows no country, race, or creed, but gives to each according to his need.

On my first acquaintance with the Senator, he pointed out to me, framed on the wall of his trophy room, one of the major themes of his teaching at Macalester College nearby, and as he said his own political philosophy. The saint may dream, and the philosopher construct his ideal world, but the man who wields power must live in the pit of reality, doing the very best he can and reconciled to the limited and the partial.

Of those many skirmishes in that pit of reality, few move me so much as the vice president's confrontation with Charles de Gaulle, at a time of our national strain between the countries. He threw away a speech that had been written for him by his aides, citing, "Our assistance, our help of France in two world wars." the vice president felt that it would be insulting.

Instead, he spoke informally about his recent visit to Yorktown and reading there the many names of the French soldiers who had died to help us in securing our liberty. And he said, "How can as an American ever forget the debt? We owe France for our independence. What binds us is our common belief in liberty. No disagreement between our countries today can possibly erase these immortal memories."

Tears welled up in de Gaulle's eyes. Even as our vice president spoke, he leaned over to our ambassador and said, "Your vice president is a scholar." And in that same way of thinking, Senator Humphrey did not want us to dwell today on what he has done for us, but rather to give happy thanks for what the people have done for him.

I think back on Father's Day, when he had come to deliver a sermon at House of Hope, and he heard this anthem, Beethoven's "Hallelujah" that we had sung for us today for that special reason. And before they even finished, when they came to the real "Hallelujah" part, he leaned over to me and said, can we clap? Can we clap?

Well, Hubert Humphrey was a clapping kind of man. And how the world needs more clappers and fewer shouters and shooters and sad sacks. And as we were talking about these things just a few days ago, each of us sensing the turning of the tide.

Dear Muriel, mused, one is tempted to ask why? But I often think it wasn't even Mary at the foot of the cross asking the same question. And Mary probably really never knew in her lifetime all that was taking place around her.

Well, Muriel, I think you are right. Does any one of us ever understand the events of our lives as they unfold in the providence of God? This was my communication with Hubert Humphrey when he was in Sloan Kettering last spring. Just a simple thing, offering him the words spoken centuries ago to the perplexed and wondering Esther when threats were closing in. Who knows?

But that for such a time as this, you were brought into the kingdom. Now, was it at such a time as this that Hubert found in his distress his finest hour? And was it for such a time as this that he spoke his messages most eloquently? Was it in such a time as this that he has been elevated to his highest role of human achievement?

Early in the 1972 presidential campaign, Hubert Humphrey said, "What I want if you'll let me is to bring the country together as a family." Well, it didn't turn out that way, and some of you didn't help enough. But then he said intuitively when he lost, "Maybe we can make an even greater contribution."

And I was pondering these things there in just a few days ago when he was so pleased to tell me about the conversations during this past Christmas season with our three presidents. For he said to them, "If we do not show our love and forgiveness for one another in the season of the birth of our Lord, then what is the celebration all about?"

I know that his remarks brought tears to at least one presidential eye. And you see what no American has been able to do in his life? Hubert Horatio Humphrey has done in his death. He has brought us together in a very literal way to celebrate the life relations we count so valuable, in the embrace of a country that we loved so dearly.

And if Hubert could speak to us once again as he spoke from this very pulpit, and speak Hubert would if he could, he would say, oh, America, oh, "America the Beautiful," we must be one people. We can be one people. We are one people under God.

And Hubert, dear friend, happy warrior, we will not know rest until we do secure that liberty and justice and those human rights for all the world that you so loved.

Now, the only other time that Hubert ever spoke to me about death was upon his return with Muriel from the funeral for Walter and May Reuther. He gave me then these lines from that event that moved him so deeply. I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you and me. Says I, but, Joe, you're 10 years dead. I never died, says he. I never died, says he.

And standing there as big as life and smiling with his eyes, Joe says, what they forgot to kill, went on to organize, went on to organize. Joe Hill ain't dead, he says to me. Joe Hill never died. Where working men are out on strike, Joe Hill is at their side. Joe Hill is at their side.

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you and me. Says I. But, Joe, you're 10 years dead. I never died, says he. I never died, says he. Let us pray.

O Lord, give us more of Hubert's kind, to pump hands and clap hands and slap backs and kiss babies and cry a little, to make big promises and fulfill some of them, to harangue us into better behavior toward one another, and to remind us that no one can hear the words "well done" until the prescription of our Lord is fulfilled, inasmuch as he have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, he have done it unto me.

Sometimes, Lord, we thought Hubert had a hankering for the top that only heaven could satisfy. And since his reach always exceeded his grasp, he seemed heaven bent right from the start. That brought many a heartache, but never a broken spirit. And so, Lord, unto thy safe keeping, we commend the spirit of thy servant-- Hubert Horatio Humphrey.

If he seems loquacious, be patient with him, Lord, as we have been, for he almost always had a good point. Enfold him now in thine everlasting arms until we no longer see as through a glass darkly but face to face. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

["HALLELUJAH" PLAYING]

["AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL" PLAYING]

(SINGING) O beautiful for spacious skies

For amber waves of grain

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain

America America

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea

O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life

America America

May God thy gold refine

Till all success be nobleness

And every gain divine

America

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea

America America

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea

CALVIN WHITFIELD DIDIER: Now unto him who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, now and ever. And may the peace that passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his son, Christ our, Lord. And say may such a blessing be known to us in this hour remain with us evermore.

SPEAKER: That's it, guys, at this time.

[HANDEL'S MESSIAH, "HALLELUJAH CHORUS"]

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

For the lord God omnipotent reigneth

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah

For the lord God omnipotent reigneth

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah

The kingdom of this world

Is become

The kingdom of our Lord

And of His Christ

And of His Christ

And he shall reign forever and ever

And he shall reign forever and ever

He shall reign forever and ever

Forever and ever

Forever and ever

He shall reign forever and ever.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Forever and ever

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

He shall reign forever and ever.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

He shall reign forever and ever

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

He shall reign forever and ever

Hallelujah

King of kings and Lord of lords

And he shall reign

He shall reign

He shall reign forever and ever

King of kings forever and ever

And Lord of lords

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

And he shall reign forever and ever

King of kings

And Lord of lords

King of kings

And Lord of Lords

And he shall reign forever and ever

Forever and ever

Forever and ever

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

SPEAKER: The "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah has concluded this funeral service for the late Hubert Horatio Humphrey. Pallbearers are now preparing to move the casket to the back of the sanctuary, and then out of the House of Hope Presbyterian Church to a hearse, where it will be taken to Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis for burial.

The invocation, meditation, and benediction were given today by the Reverend Calvin Didier, Pastor at House of Hope Presbyterian Church in Saint Paul. There also were remarks by Dr. Robert Schuller of Garden Grove Community Church in California. President Carter, Vice President Mondale. Soloists were Robert Merrill and Tom Tipton.

We also heard the Sabathani Baptist Church Choir instrumental music by Isaac Stern, Eugene Istomin. The House of Hope Church Choir was under the direction of Sharon Kleckner, who is also the church organist. Rabbi Max Shapiro from the Temple Israel in Minneapolis, read the Old Testament lesson. And Reverend John Roach, archbishop of the Minneapolis Saint Paul Archdiocese, read the New Testament lesson.

The House of Hope Church Sanctuary actually holds about 1,000 people, approximately 400 spaces were reserved this afternoon for dignitaries. There were about 200 members of the House and the Senate and their spouses in attendance, among them Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd of West Virginia. Majority Whip Senator Alan Cranston of California, Minority leader Howard Baker of Tennessee, Senator Edmund Muskie, Senator Frank Church, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota.

And from the House-- Congressman Al Ullman, Peter Rodino, Speaker Tip O'Neill, among the very, very many members of Congress came to Saint Paul for this funeral service. Governors of several states were here, including those from states surrounding Minnesota-- Governor Jerry Brown of California, Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland was here.

There were also many well-known people from other walks of life at the funeral service-- Jesse Jackson, a civil rights leader and director of Operation Push in Chicago, the widow of the late Martin Luther King Jr, Coretta King, was here, Walter Heller, former chairman of the Council of Economic advisors under presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Heller, now a professor at the University of Minnesota.

Lorne Greene, star of the former television series Bonanza, close friend of the late Senator. Businessman Dwayne Andreas, major contributor to Humphrey political campaigns throughout the years.

And from the sports world. The most valuable player of the American League this past season, Rod Carew, of the Minnesota Twins. Football players Allen Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall of the Minnesota Vikings.

Ambassadors of several foreign nations were present, including those of Norway and Israel.

Pallbearers are now moving the casket to the back of the church as the postlude begins.

[ORGAN MUSIC]

Funders

Digitization made possible by the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, approved by voters in 2008.

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