Daily Inspiration Quote by Frederick William Robertson

Robertson’s line tries to win a skeptical age without surrendering the claims of faith. He doesn’t begin with doctrine or miracle; he begins with a biography: “the grandest life.” It’s a strategic pivot for a 19th-century Anglican clergyman preaching in the churn of modernity, when historical criticism, industrial upheaval, and widening education were teaching people to ask for reasons, not just reverence.

The key phrase is “every thinking man.” That’s not casual inclusivity; it’s a rhetorical dare. Robertson implies that mature intellect, if honest, converges on a single conclusion: Jesus’ life carries a quality that demands the word “divine.” He softens the coercion with “deeper or shallower meaning,” acknowledging gradations of belief - from orthodox confession to moral admiration - while still corralling them under the same banner. The move is pastoral and political: it keeps the doubter in the room by conceding ambiguity, then quietly claims the room for Christianity anyway.

Notice the temporal distance - “Two thousand years ago” - doing double duty. It marks Christianity as historically anchored (not myth), and it frames Jesus as a standard that outlives eras, a life whose authority isn’t propped up by contemporary power. Yet the subtext is also defensive: if faith can’t compel assent through supernatural proof, it can still argue from moral radiance, from a life so exceptional that even “thinking” people feel pressed toward transcendence.

Robertson’s intent is persuasion by admiration: make divinity feel like the most reasonable name for a certain kind of human greatness.