d as being governed by the nominative;
as we may suppose "_theirs_" to be governed by "_vanity_," and "_thine_" by
"_learning_," these nouns being the names of the things possessed. But then
we encounter a difficulty, whenever a _pronoun_ happens to be the
nominative; as, "Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit,
_which are God's_"--_1 Cor._, vi, 20. Here the common resort would be to
some ellipsis; and yet it must be confessed, that this mode of
interpretation cannot but make some difference in the sense: as, "_If ye be
Christ's_, then are ye Abraham's seed."--_Gal._, iii, 29. Here some may
think the meaning to be, "_If ye be Christ's seed_, or _children_." But a
truer version of the text would be, "If ye _are of Christ_, then are ye
Abraham's seed."--"Que si vous _etes a Christ_, vous etes done la posterite
d'Abraham."--_French Bible_.

OBS. 5.--Possession is the having of something, and if the possessive case
is always an adjunct, referring either directly or indirectly to that which
constitutes it a possessive, it would seem but reasonable, to limit the
government of this case to that part of speech which is understood
_substantively_--that is, to "the _name_ of the thing possessed." Yet, in
violation of this restriction, many grammarians admit, that a _participle_,
with the regimen and adjuncts of a participle, may govern the possessive
case; and some of them, at the same time, with astonishing inconsistency,
aver, that the possessive case before a participle converts the latter into
a noun, and necessarily deprives it of its regimen. Whether participles are
worthy to form an exception to my rule or not, this palpable contradiction
is one of the gravest faults of L. Murray's code of syntax. After copying
from Lowth the doctrine that a participle with an _article_ before it
becomes a noun, and must drop the government and adjuncts of a participle,
this author informs us, that the same principles are applicable to the
_pronoun_ and participle: as, "Much depends on _their observing of_ the
rule, and error will be the consequence of _their neglecting of_ it;" in
stead of, "_their observing the rule_," and "_their neglecting it_." And
this doctrine he applies, with yet more positiveness, to the _noun_ and
participle; as if the error were still more glaring, to make an active
participle govern a possessive _noun_; saying, "We shall perceive this
_more clearly_, if we substitute a noun for the pronoun: as, 'M