Edwards, Works, 4:69-73--"Faith justifies, because faith includes the whole act of unition to Christ as a Savior. It is not the nature of any other graces or virtues directly to close with Christ as a mediator, any further than they enter into the constitution of justifying faith, and do belong to its nature"; Observations on Trinity, 64-67--"Salvation is not offered to us upon any condition, but freely and for nothing. We are to do nothing for it,--we are only to take it. This taking and receiving is faith." H. B. Smith, System, 524--"An internal change is a _sine qua non_ of justification, but not its meritorious ground." Give a man a gold mine. It is _his_. He has not to work _for_ it; he has only to work _it_. Working _for_ life is one thing; working _from_ life is quite another. The marriage of a poor girl to a wealthy proprietor makes her possessor of his riches despite her former poverty. Yet her acceptance has not _purchased_ wealth. It is hers, not because of what she is or has done, but because of what her husband is and has done. So faith is the condition of justification, only because through it Christ becomes ours, and with him his atonement and righteousness. Salvation comes not because our faith saves us, but because it links us to the Christ who saves; and believing is only the link. There is no more merit in it than in the beggar's stretching forth his hand to receive the offered purse, or the drowning man's grasping the rope that is thrown to him.
The Wesleyan scheme is inclined to make faith a work. See Dabney, Theology, 637. This is to make faith _the_ cause and ground, or at least to add it to Christ's work as a _joint_ cause and ground, of justification; as if justification were { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, instead of { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} or { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~} { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. Since faith is never perfect, this is to go back to the Roman Catholic uncertainty of salvation. See Dorner, Glaubenslehre, 2:744, 745 (Syst. Doct., 4:206, 207). C. H. M. on _Gen. 3:7_--"They made themselves aprons of fig-leaves, before God made them coats of skin. Man ever tries to clothe himself in garments of his own righteousness, before he will take the robe of Christ's. But Adam felt himself naked when God visited him, even though he had his fig-leaves on him."