Speaking at the funeral of Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Hillary Clinton offered a forceful defense of democracy and compared the late congressman, a leader in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, to the prophet Elijah.
“Like that Old Testament prophet, he stood against the corrupt leadership of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel,” Mrs. Clinton said, to a roar of applause from the congregation. “And he looked out for the vulnerable among us. He lifted up the next generation of leaders. And he even worked a few miracles.”
Mr. Cummings, a Maryland Democrat who was serving his 13th term in the House of Representatives, died last week in Baltimore at 68. As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, he earned the ire of Mr. Trump for his role in the impeachment inquiry. The president did not attend the funeral.
Even from his hospital bed, Mr. Cummings was said to be joining strategy discussions with colleagues. Mrs. Clinton, the former secretary of state, alluded to that determination, even in his final days, in her remarks on Friday.
“Toward the end of his life, he said, ‘I am begging the American people to pay attention to what is going on, because if you want to have a democracy intact for your children, and your children’s children, and generations yet unborn, we have got to guard this moment,’” she said. “‘This is our watch.’”
She added: “‘When we are dancing with the angels, the question will be asked,’ he said, ‘In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?’”
Mr. Cummings’s body lay in state in the Capitol on Thursday, where he was praised by lawmakers from both parties. It appears he is the first African-American lawmaker to receive such an honor.
In addition to Mrs. Clinton, other prominent politicians expected to speak at his funeral were former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate.
“Elijah wrote his funeral program and decided who he wanted to do what,” Bishop Walter Scott Thomas, the pastor, said after Ms. Warren and Representative Marcia Fudge, Democrat of Ohio, read from the Bible. “Some of you may be wondering why you are not doing anything, so I wanted to give you clarity.”
The funeral was held at New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, where Mr. Cummings could usually be seen seated in the front row on Sundays. The church seats 4,000 people but was expected to draw far more for the funeral on Friday.
Mr. Cummings was raised in Baltimore by parents who were former sharecroppers in South Carolina. He graduated from Howard University in Washington, earned a law degree at the University of Maryland and was first elected to Congress in 1996.
After his first election, he never faced a serious primary or general election challenge. He was revered in his district, and widely respected on Capitol Hill, for his integrity and moral vision, which Mrs. Clinton alluded to in her remarks. She called him “a fierce champion for truth, justice and kindness in every part of his life.”
“His integrity and character, his can-do spirit, made him a guiding light in the Congress,” she said. “He pushed back against the abuse of power. He was unwavering in his defense of our democracy. He had little tolerance for those who put party ahead of country or partisanship above truth.”