We pass on to the consideration of Dr.
Pfander's writings, which consist of three treatises: first, Mîzân-ul-Haqq,
or "Balance of Truth"; second, Miftâh-ul-Asrâr, or "Key of
Mysteries"; and third, Tarîq-ul-Hyât, or " Way of
Salvation." They were originally written in Persian, but have also been
published in Urdoo, excepting the last which is in progress of translation. From
his residence and travels in Persia, Pfander possesses advantages which
fortunately qualify him in an unusual degree for the great controversy with our
Moslem population. He was attached for ten or twelve years to the German mission
at Fort Shushy on the confines of Georgia, from whence he made frequent and
protracted visits to Persia, penetrating as far as Bagdad, and returning by a
circuitous tour through Isfahan and Teheran. In 1836, the Russian Government,
unable to tolerate the presence of foreign ecclesiastics, put a stop to the
mission, and thus proved the means of providing us with labourers who in the
field of Persia had acquired so valuable a knowledge of its language and so
intimate an acquaintance with the religion and tenets of the Mohammedans.
Pfander joined the Indian mission of the C. M. S. in 1838.