shiping of_ idols,--or, _Their worshiping
of_ idols, was sinful."--"_In the worshiping of_ idols, there is sin."

OBS. 8.--It is commonly supposed that these two modes of expression are, in
very many instances, equivalent to each other in meaning, and consequently
interchangeable. How far they really are so, is a question to be
considered. Example: "But if candour be _a confounding of_ the distinctions
between sin and holiness, _a depreciating of_ the excellence of the latter,
and at the same time _a diminishing of_ the evil of the former; then it
must be something openly at variance with the letter and the spirit of
revelation."--_The Friend_, iv, 108. Here the nouns, _distinctions,
excellence_, and _evil_, though governed by _of_, represent the _objects_
of the forenamed actions; and therefore they might well be governed by
_confounding, depreciating_, and _diminishing_, if these were participles.
But if, to make them such, we remove the article and the preposition, the
construction forsakes our meaning; for _be confounding, (be) depreciating_,
and _(be) diminishing_, seem rather to be verbs of the compound form; and
our uncertain nominatives after _be_, thus disappear in the shadow of a
false sense. But some sensible critics tell us, that this preposition _of_
should refer rather to the _agent_ of the preceding action, than to its
_passive object_; so that such a phrase as, "_the teaching of boys_,"
should signify rather the instruction which boys give, than that which they
receive. If, for the sake of this principle, or for any other reason, we
wish to avoid the foregoing phraseology, the meaning may be expressed thus:
"But if _your_ candour _confound_ the distinctions between sin and
holiness; _if it depreciate_ the excellence of the latter, and at the same
time _diminish_ the evil of the former; then it must be something openly at
variance with the letter and the spirit of revelation."

OBS. 9.--When the use of the preposition produces ambiguity or harshness,
let a better expression be sought. Thus the sentence, "He mentions
_Newton's writing of_ a commentary," is not entirely free from either of
these faults. If the preposition be omitted, the word _writing_ will have a
double construction, which is inadmissible, or at least objectionable. Some
would say, "He mentions _Newton writing_ a commentary." This, though not
uncommon, is still more objectionable because it makes the leading word in
sense the adjunct in con