There is danger in regarding justification by faith as placing merit on faith. When you take the righteousness of Christ as a free gift you are justified freely through the redemption of Christ.
The reason so many fail to be successful laborers is that they act as though God depended on them, and they are to suggest to God what He chooses to do with them, in the place of their depending on God. They lay aside the supernatural power, and fail to do the supernatural work. They are all the time depending on their own and their brethren's human powers.
Quotes and article are from E. G. White 1888 Materials
Dangers of False Ideas on Justification by Faith