2. They have God’s name put upon them, and accordingly are described as _his people called by his name_, 2 Chron. vii. 14. This is an high and honourable character, denoting their relation to him as a peculiar people; and it is what belongs to them alone. Thus the church says, _We are thine; thou never bearest rule over them_, Isa. lxiii. 19. namely, thine adversaries; _they were not called by thy name_. They have also Christ’s name put on them, _of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named_, Eph. iii. 15. which not only signifies that propriety which he has in them as Mediator, but their relation to him as the ransomed of the Lord, his sheep, whom he leads and feeds like a shepherd; and they are also styled his children, _Behold I and the children which God hath given me_, Heb. ii. 13. and indeed, when he is called a surety, or an advocate, or said to execute certain offices as a Saviour or Redeemer; these are all relative terms; and whatever he does therein, is in their name, and for their advantage; as it is said, _of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption_, 1 Cor. i. 31. 3. They are taken into God’s family, and dealt with as members thereof; and accordingly are styled _fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God_, Eph. ii. 19. And as the consequence hereof, they have protection, provision, and communion with him. (1.) They have safe protection; as the master of a family thinks himself obliged to secure and defend from danger, all that are under his roof, whose house is, as it were, their castle; so Christ is his people’s defence, concerning whom it is said, _A man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land_, Isa. xxxii. 2. and, as the consequence hereof, it is added, _My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places_, ver. 18. _They dwell on high; their place of defence is the munition of rocks_, chap. xxxii. 16. He who has subdued their enemies, and will in his own time, bruise them under their feet, will take care that they shall not meet with that disturbance from them, which may hinder their repose or rest in him, or render their state unsafe, so as to endanger their perishing or falling from it.