We know the past and its great events, the present in its multitudinous complications, chiefly through faith in the testimony of others.

Simpson argues that much of what we take as knowledge—especially of history and of complex contemporary affairs—rests not on direct personal observation but on trust in witnesses, records, and communal transmission. The line reframes “faith” as an everyday epistemic necessity rather than a purely religious act: even the most practical understanding of the world depends on accepting others’ testimony. In a religious context (as Simpson often wrote and preached), this serves as a bridge between ordinary reliance on evidence mediated by people and the credibility of religious testimony, suggesting that belief is continuous with common human ways of knowing rather than an irrational exception.