Adam Clarke was an assistant in a dry-goods store, selling silks and satins to a cultured clientele. One day his employer suggested to him that he try stretching the silk as he measured it out; this would increase sales and profits and also increase Adam’s value to the company. Young Clarke straightened up from his work, faced his boss courageously, and said, “Sir, your silk may stretch, but my conscience won’t!”

God honored Adam Clarke for being an embodied conscience by taking him from the dry-goods store and fitting him to write a famous commentary on the books of the Bible.