The Doctrine of Justification by Faith

4. Trust in God, or the Grace and Mercy of God in and through the Lord Christ as set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood, doth belong hereunto, or necessarily ensue hereon. For the person called unto Believing, is (1) convinced of sin, and exposed unto wrath. (2) Hath nothing else to trust unto for Help and Relief. (3) Doth actually renounce all other things that tender themselves unto that End; and therefore without some Act of Trust the Soul must lye under actual Despair, which is utterly inconsistent with Faith, or the Choice and Approbation of the way of Salvation before described. 5. The most frequent Declaration of the Nature of Faith in the Scripture, especially in the Old Testament, is by this Trust, and that because it is that Act of it which composeth the Soul, and brings it unto all the Rest it can attain. For all our Rest in this world is from Trust in God. And the especial Object of this Trust, so far as it belongs unto the Nature of that Faith whereby we are Justified, is God in Christ reconciling the World unto himself. For this is respected where his Goodness, his Mercy, his Grace, his Name, his Faithfulness, his Power, are expressed, or any of them, as that which it doth immediately rely upon. For they are no way the Object of our Trust, nor can be, but on the account of the Covenant which is confirmed and ratified in and by the Blood of Christ alone.

Whether this Trust or Confidence shall be esteemed of the Essence of Faith, or as that which on the first fruit and working of it we are found in the exercise of, we need not positively determine. I place it therefore as that which belongs unto Justifying Faith, and is inseparable from it. For if all we have spoken before concerning Faith may be comprised under the notion of a firm Assent and Persuasion, yet it cannot be so, if any such Assent be conceivable exclusive of this Trust.

Whether this Trust or Confidence shall be esteemed of the Essence of Faith, or as that which on the first fruit and working of it we are found in the exercise of, we need not positively determine. I place it therefore as that which belongs unto Justifying Faith, and is inseparable from it. For if all we have spoken before concerning Faith may be comprised under the notion of a firm Assent and Perswasion, yet it cannot be so, if any such Assent be conceiveable exclusive of this Trust.