E.B. Pusey was one of the leading figures in the Oxford Movement, advocating for the Church of England's catholicity. The prayers in this book are consistent with Pusey's character, which Liddon reports as "always intense, real, vivid, searching, tender, profoundly reverent." Pusey's prayers are at times particularly focused on sins against charity because they were written for a specific individual. Liddon's preface details: "The prayers contained in this volume were composed, chiefly, in or about the year 1853-5, at the instance and for the use of a person who had the happiness to be advised by Dr. Pusey in spiritual matters. They were written at intervals, as they were wanted, and without any intention of making them into a book." Also included in this edition is Donne's Litany.