Thomas Manton, a puritan commenting on James in 1693, said the following:

Works are an evidence of true faith. Graces are not dead, useless habits, they will have some effects and operations when they are weakest and in their infancy. This is the evidence by which we must judge, and this is the evidence by which Christ will judge. Works are not a ground of confidence, but evidence, not the foundation of faith, but the encouragements of assurance. Comfort may be increased by the sight of good works, but it is not built upon them. They are seeds of hope, not props of confidence. Sweet evidences of election not cause happy presages and beginnings of glory. In short, they can manifest an interest, but not merit it.

Manton, points out that our view of salvation is assured by what is evidenced through our lives. Our profession (what our stated beliefs are) and our lifestyle (how we live – proving or disproving what we say we believe) work together to create assurance or confidence in daily life. Since both profession and lifestyle are connected (since we always do what we believe), they work as two sides of the same coin.