But God, whom no external being
can affect, who perceives nothing by sense as we do; whose will
is absolute and independent, causing all things, and liable to be
thwarted or resisted by nothing: it is evident, such a Being as
this can suffer nothing, nor be affected with any painful
sensation, or indeed any sensation at all. We are chained to a
body: that is to say, our perceptions are connected with
corporeal motions. By the law of our nature, we are affected upon
every alteration in the nervous parts of our sensible body; which
sensible body, rightly considered, is nothing but a complexion of
such qualities or ideas as have no existence distinct from being
perceived by a mind. So that this connexion of sensations with
corporeal motions means no more than a correspondence in the
order of nature, between two sets of ideas, or things immediately
perceivable. But God is a Pure Spirit, disengaged from all such
sympathy, or natural ties. No corporeal motions are attended with
the sensations of pain or pleasure in His mind.
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