As Thomas Thellusson Carter insightfully observes in the preface, “After the heated controversy, there is generally felt to be comparative rest, and among opponents a disposition to be more forbearing and tolerant. It seems, therefore, that the time has come for attempting what is needed—the gathering up of the gains of the conflict, and what we trust will live on, as the testimony of the past generation to Anglo-Catholic truth.” These words were put forth at the precise moment in history when the Catholic Revival in Anglicanism, having begun in its fullest sense in the work of the Oxford Movement, had been victorious. The Catholic Faith, “as inherited and received by the Church of England,” was to remain in England.
In this important work, Brinckman draws extensively from the work and words of Edward B. Pusey. Through the work of Dr. Pusey, the Rev. Brinkman makes the case for Anglo-Catholicism. Here, he puts forth a system (albeit incomplete) of standard Anglo-Catholic beliefs, as well as what is essentially an instruction manual on Anglo-Catholic living and devotion.