inherit was not that of the Majesty in the Heavens, but "the throne of his father David." It appears that I have made an error (in the opinion of the Curate,) in supposing that the Salem of which Melchizedec was king, was the same as Jerusalem. If so, I have erred with many eminent authors. Baxter's Comprehensive Bible states it as a settled point, that they were the same. Scott, in his Commentary, maintains the position against those who oppose it; and, above all, the spirit of God in the Psalms, distinctly declares it, and settles the point "In Salem is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Sion."-Ps. lxxvi. 2. The Salem mentioned in John, iii. 23, is not the Salem in which Milchizedec reigned;-the words are spelled differently, both in the original and in the translation. I shall say nothing about the throne of David, having, in my last article on the Millenium, advanced some further arguments in support of the literal interpretation of it. I shall merely copy the following from the Morning Watch, and request, that if our friends cannot answer the pithy questions of Mr. Irving, they will, at least, give us credit for having some argument on our side:-" All I have to say is, I do not know what the spiritual throne of David means. It is the throne of a believer's heart. Where learned you to call a believer's heart the throne of David? It is the throne of the Majesty on high. How dare you blaspheme, and call the throne of God the throne of David ?" Your Correspondent says, "the Kingdom of God-of Christand of Heaven, seems synonymous with the Church." This theology may do for our friends in the west; but I rather think it is unsound. Let us try;-"The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." Now, suppose we insert "the Church" for "the Kingdom," will the passage be more intelligible then than it is now ?-or rather will it not lose all its meaning? But, again-"thy Kingdom come." Does this mean "thy Church come?" No, it means the Kingdom, and the Gospel is the Gospel of the Kingdom, as believers are the children of the Kingdom.-Matt. xiii. 38. It was promised, says the Curate, that David "should never want a man to sit on his throne;" but his literal throne has been long vacant, and therefore this cannot mean his literal, but his spiritual throne. This is all very fine; but, suppose we were to alter the argument a little, might it not answer full as well.The throne of David, I would say, was never to be without a Monarch; but it has been many ages without one. Christ was to sit on the throne of David; but he has never yet been seated upon that throne. When the antitype of David should be King over his people, Judah and Israel were to be one people upon the mountains of Israel; but they are not one people, nor are they upon the mountains of Israel. Therefore, these declarations shall we say are untrue?—or that they are not to be understood literally? Let us not venture on such dangerous ground; the inference is natural, and manifest without straining a single expression; and it is this,-These prophecies are yet unfulfilled. When the fulness of the time shall come, the Messiah (David's Son and autotype,) shall" restore the Kingdom to Israel"-shall "sit on the throne of David," and from thenceforth "David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel."-Jer. xxxiii. 17. J. K. QUERY. TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER. MR. EXAMINER,-Allow me, through the medium of your valuable miscellany, to propose to your numerous readers the following Query-Is it justifiable for any Christian person to attend a distant place of worship, in preference to his Parish Church, even if the service be performed with less decorum and respect in the latter? Although I have been present at discussions on this point, carried on by persons of talent and ingenuity, I have not been biassed on either side.-Very truly yours, M.L. MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. THE GHAUTS, OR A MARCH FROM BOMBAY TO POONAH, (Extracted from an Officer's Journal.) Early on the morning of the 7th inst. the regiment got under arms, after having embarked our stores and baggage during the previous evening. Sir Thomas Bradford arrived at day-light and made his inspection of the regiment in heavy marching order; after which we filed past him on our way to the pier from which we were embarked. The regiment never looked better, though in their old clothing, knapsacked and haversacked for the march. Sir Thomas expressed himself highly pleased; we had not one man drunk-a circumstance of very rare occurrence in India, when leaving an old quarter. Before eight o'clock every man was on board the boats, and we pushed off a fleet of twenty-five vessels. The men gave three cheers, which were answered by the few inhabitants of the island who came down to see us off. Our band played as long as we were in hearing of the shore. A pleasant breeze carried us very rapidly up the bay, passing the islands of Elephants, Caranga, &c. &c. The views at the upper end of the bay are lovely, I have seldom seen their rivals except in our own Dublin Bay. Having the 'good fortune of being one of the regimental staff, I had a most comfortable boat, in which I had for my companions Major A, E, and the adjutant. We reached our haven sooner than the other vessels, and got ashore at Panwell about half past four in the evening. I was ordered on, as interpreter, to assist in pitching tents, &c. very hot work, as the ground for our camp lay above two miles from the shore. Every thing was arranged for the regiment before from the 'clock, when I was happy to see our advance guard top the rising ground, and close after them the regiment. In less than half an hour they were in their tents, and as much order and regularity prevailed, as if the camp had been formed a month. The distance of Panwell from Bombay is about twenty-five miles, yet we heard the eight-o'clock gun distinctly that evening. The scenery about Panwell is romantic, and reminded me strongly of that near Bray; you might fancy some of the distant patches of woody land, to be gentlemen's seats, with groves and streams; the River Pen. winds through the low lands, and gives green fields along its banks, which are denied to the rest of the country. There is a majestic mountain much resembling Table Mountain in miniature, which hung over the encamping ground, and our men immediately recognized in it the resemblance to their giant friend at Cape Town. I felt in common with others, a peculiar sensation of freedom, once more released from the close imprisonment of forts, and still worse, petty isles. This was the first night for years that I had not heard the sea tell me that I was his prisoner. Major A sent for me as I was going to bed to interpret for him; I then found that the commissary department were unable to procure carriages for the regimental stores and baggage for another day, and consequently that we could not march from Panwell till the morning of the 9th; we therefore spent the 8th in looking about us and making arrangements for our personal convenience on the march. There are at Panwell two bungalows kept by government, for the use of travellers: I mention this, for it is a peculiar feature in the country to see two well-built houses, except on the Poonah road: all travellers have to carry their tents with them. After many fair promises of the contractor, we found that on the evening of the 8th, not more than half the carriages for the regiment had been provided. Another day was thus lost, and we spent the 9th as we had done the 8th. The heat of the place was very great, yet few wished themselves back in Colaba, however cooler than the N. Concan; as for myself, a camp life has so many charms, so much variety, that I hardly thought of the heat except when I used a handkerchief (by the way, seldom used for the nose in India.) The nights were cool, and braced what the day had enervated. On the 10th, having at last got all our carriages, we marched out of Panwell at four o'clock in the morning, and arrived at Chowk. The stages on this march are short-the distance was only twelve miles; the road was as good as our Irish ones; the country was of the most picturesque kind; every three hundred yards the hills assumed new forms and hues, giving such variety as I had no reason to expect from what I had seen in Cutch. VOL. IX. 2 M The heat was still greater here than at Panwell, for we encamped between four hills, in a valley not longer than Stephen's-green. The sun, however painful to us, seemed not to have been injurious. The rear-guard in charge of the baggage, which was exposed to the sun till three o'clock in the afternoon, did not suffer in any way. In Cutch we often lost four or five men in one day on that duty. 11th-Our next stage was to Campoolee, a lovely spot, immediately at the foot of the Bhorre Ghaut, which rises like a scarped work, to bar entrance to the Decan. Here the excessive heat tortured us; our lips, noses, and ears, swelled into the most uncouth shape-and sun-blisters were in abundance: I seldom felt any heat so distressing to me; I ran like a mad dog with half the regiment, as soon as the sun got behind the hills, to a noble tank near our camp, and swam about for nearly an hour; the water was tepid: the doctors were the first to recommend by example this refreshment. The tank is a most splendid one, four hundred yards square, faced with cut stone, an inverted hollow - pyramid, ninety feet in depth; it is capable of being emptied and cleaned, and re-filled at certain times, by letting the stream from the Ghaut pour into it. It was built by the celebrated Nana Phurnawees: on one side is a large pagoda, dedicated to Purvutee, but it seems now deserted. The distance of Campoolee from Chowk, is eleven miles three furlongs; the village is a large one, and I was surprised to see the supplies in the bazaar so abundant. Leading into the village, the road is shaded by trees of great age and size. In the days of the Marhatta power, the place was evidently much favoured by the Peshaws; and still the village retains under our government freedom from some particular imposts. Thursday, 12th-We struck tents at the first streak of daylight, and passing through the village of Campoolee, we seemed for some time to march against the wall-like face of the Ghaut, and had indeed neared it within fifty or sixty paces, when the road suddenly seemed to cease; but turning to the left at a right angle, the steep road of the Ghaut commenced; and looking up, as I did, at the regiment climbing up, the men looked as if upon a ladder, very little less steep than for escalading. I found this was the most abrupt part of the road during the ascent of the Ghaut, with one exception: to ride up, is hardly practicable, and to descend it in horseback impossible. With some few slips of level road, we were indulged during the march in the morning; but even these were awful-winding round hills, on one side of which rose a perpendicular gloomy crag-on the other side lay a steep precipice: 'I felt a shudder, when I crept on my hands and feet to the edge, and looked down, down, down, a horrid depth ! In some parts the jungle was excessively close. We met several men, natives of the Ghaut, armed in a rude manner; some had bows, swords, and spears; others had match-locks. They are celebrated plunderers, and cut a throat in as good a style as any White-boy in Ireland. The Apothecary of the regiment, who had preceded it only a few hours, was seized by some of these fellows, who cut him in the head: several of the sutlers who had started early, were similarly treated; and one of the servants got his arm broke by a stone cast from the height. After we had been ascending about an hour, a great number of our men fell out of the ranks completely blown: the lungs failed sooner than the limbs. The windings of the road often put us into strange convolutions at times the grenadiers were marching above us. The scene was one of great interest to me, although I was very weary, having been on foot two hours before we marched, and having had to clamber up like my neighbours, nearly 4000 feet! On reaching the crest of the Ghaut, the regiment was halted for half an hour, to let the weakly men come up with us. During this period I delighted my eyes with letting them wander over the fertile Concan that lay below: the view was not very expansive, but very distant. The air was such as I had never expected to breathe in India. I do not wonder that men have all agreed to place the locum of heaven above, and that of hell below; for certainly there is a corresponding elevation of mind when on a mountain; and a feeling of degradation when in a valley. Perhaps the heat of Campoolee, and the cool breeze of Candalla, had some influence on me, in making this observation. After our halt we proceeded about a mile and a half, to a piece of ground near a village, on which we encamped. From our vicinity to a hill, from which the sun's rays were reflected on us, we felt the heat even here, very great, but not of that close humid nature which is felt in the low ground of the Concan, and in Bombay. I was much surprised to find the road up the Ghaut so good; it may rival many of our high-roads for excellence of construction. In the very steepest parts it was not rugged, and for the greater part was smooth. The baggage which had been conveyed to the foot of the Ghauts on the country carts, &c. had to be carried up by men. A frame formed by six poles, called a bangee, is contrived, so that any weight slung in the centre, bears equally on eight men. By this simple contrivance, heavy luggage of every kind is carried up. The lighter articles are placed like paniers on both sides of a poney, peculiar to the country, very small but very strong. The style in which these little animals climb up, would put the best English horses to shame. I must not, however, forget to praise the bullocks, which, though slow are sure now that their wildness had been lessened by three or four days march, they performed their work in the best manner. Provisions and commissary stores, as also tents, were carried on camels; and it was truly wonderful to watch the care and pains these animals took, not to let their bundles fall, kneeling down whenever the smallest bundle fell off. Shortly after we reached our halting ground for the day, every hand was busy in getting up the tents; a bath of river water was a comfort, and we went with one accord to enjoy it. Breakfasts were the next desiderata, and summary justice was done them: I never saw soldiers enjoy themselves in quarter as they do in |