If we look at the realm of knowledge, how exceedingly small and limited is that part acquired through our own senses how wide is that we gain from other sources.

Simpson contrasts two avenues of knowing: what an individual can verify directly through personal sensory experience, and what one must accept through testimony, tradition, books, and communal learning. The remark underscores human epistemic limits: most of what we “know” (history, science beyond our experiments, distant places, even much of daily practical knowledge) is mediated by others. In a religious or moral-argument setting—common in Simpson’s preaching—this observation typically supports the legitimacy of trusting credible witnesses and authorities, including in matters of faith, rather than treating firsthand experience as the only valid ground for belief.