Re: an Essay on the Trinity by Jonathan Edwards

Yeah, I was thinking tonight about going back through it and just extracting the highlights out of it. One of the main things was about how Jesus was begotten of the Father by being God's perfect idea of Himself-His exact reflection as it were. Or as Paul said in Heb. 1.3- who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. That explains for me how Jesus could be "begotten" but not created.

And the other interesting thing was about the Holy Ghost. The Father and the Son love and adore each other; Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. Pr. 8.30.
I, Wisdom, Jesus, was the Father's delight, AND I was rejoicing always before (or in ?) Him. So they were rejoicing in each other. Edwards contends or at least puts forth that that adoration, that Divine Love is the Spirit of God. God IS love. IJn. 4.16. Here is a quote:

(That God's love or His loving kindness is the same with the Holy Ghost seems to be plain by Psalm 36:7-9, "How excellent (or how precious as 'tis in the Hebrew) is Thy loving-kindness O God, therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings, they shall be abundantly satisfied (in the Hebrew "watered") with the fatness of Thy house and Thou shalt make them to drink of the river of Thy pleasures; for with Thee is the fountain of life and in Thy light shall we see light."

Doubtless that precious loving-kindness and that fatness of God's house and river of His pleasures and the water of the fountain of life and God's light here spoken [of] are the same thing; by which we learn that the Holy anointing oil that was kept in the House of God, which was a type of the Holy Ghost, represented God's love, and that the "River of water of life" spoken of in the 22nd [chapter] of Revelation, which proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, which is the same with Ezekiel's vision of Living and life-giving water, which is here [in Ps. 36] called the "Fountain of life and river of God's pleasures," is God's loving-kindness.

But Christ Himself expressly teaches us that by spiritual fountains and rivers of water of life is meant the Holy Ghost. (John 4:14; 7:38,39).That by the river of God's pleasures here is meant the same thing with the pure river of water of life spoken of in Revelation 22:1, will be much confirmed if we compare those verses with Revelation 21:23, 24; 22:1,5. (See the notes on chapters 21, 23, 24) I think if we compare these places and weigh them we cannot doubt but that it is the same happiness that is meant in this Psalm which is spoken of there.)

Interesting, eh? And also interesting is the number of Scriptures he cites where love and the Spirit, and joy and the Spirit are mentioned together. I haven't written them down and looked them up yet but they will be some good meditatin' (or masticatin') when I do!
Let's let Rev. Edwards sum up:

And this I suppose to be that blessed Trinity that we read of in the Holy Scriptures. The Father is the Deity subsisting in the prime, un-originated and most absolute manner, or the Deity in its direct existence. The Son is the Deity generated by God's understanding, or having an idea of Himself and subsisting in that idea. The Holy Ghost is the Deity subsisting in act, or the Divine essence flowing out and breathed forth in God's Infinite love to and delight in Himself. And I believe the whole Divine essence does truly and distinctly subsist both in the Divine idea and Divine love, and that each of them are properly distinct Persons.

There. That might be a little more digestible. Enjoy!