And the calm, tender strain of his theology harmonizes with the spirit which the poet has thus so touchingly characterized. Like Sanderson, Hammond is more practical than scientific. Like Sanderson, he shines with richer lustre as a Christian casuist, than as a systematic Divine. In his _Practical Catechism_, however, he appears to advantage both as an evangelical moralist and a doctrinal teacher: it contains expositions of the Creed, of the Ten Commandments, and of the Sermon on the Mount. Exhibitions of principle are skilfully interwoven with the enforcement of precepts; moderation is blended with orthodoxy; and in his conclusions touching the critical points of theology which we have selected as tests for elucidating distinctive opinion, he closely approaches his beloved companion Sanderson. With Hammond faith is the _condition_ of justification; he scruples to call it the _instrument_, lest he should ascribe to it any undue efficiency;[425] but in faith he includes the germ of all Christian obedience, all Christian virtue; he describes it as a cordial, sincere, giving up oneself to God, particularly to Christ, firmly to rely on all His promises, and faithfully to obey all His commands. Hammond broadly distinguishes justification from sanctification,--defining the first as God’s covering or pardoning our iniquities, His being so reconciled unto us sinners, that He determines not to punish us eternally;--and the second, as the infusion of holiness into our hearts, the turning of the soul to Himself. Into the relation between the two blessings, and the order of their bestowment--which of them is conferred first--he enters, with a subtlety of analysis unusual in the Anglican school; and whilst, with exemplary candour, he suggests what he allows to be an orthodox rendering of the Puritan doctrine of justification before sanctification, he himself prefers to place the latter first in the order of time; yet, in doing this, he so qualifies his statement as not to alarm even the Puritan, who ventures upon this abstruse, perplexing, and not very profitable path of speculative inquiry. Hammond believed that justification flows from the mediatorial priesthood of the Lord Jesus; but he distinctly denied that the Redeemer’s active obedience is imputed to men.[426] [Sidenote: PEARSON.]