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THE CHURCH IN CHINESE CHRISTIAN PERIODICALS 353XV.A Modern DanfelThe Christian press expressed in strong terms itsopposition to the Presidential order commanding all militarymen to worship the Gods of War, and its admiration of thebrave steps taken by the Christian members of the Navy,Admiral Li Ho (& ^n)and his associates. The newmandate from the President commanded that every militaryand naval officer and private shall take an oath before theGods of War and swear their loyalty to the CentralGovernment. Admiral Li was then Vice-President of theMinistry of the Navy in Peking. Being a Christian he feltthat he could not obey that order commanding him to dowhat he regarded as inconsistent with his Christianprinciples. He therefore refused to obey the summons anddid not appear at the temple on the day when the ceremonytook place. Two other Christian men in the office of theMinistry of the Navy followed Admiral Li s example.These men were consequently ordered to resign from theirpositions, in order to show to the country that thePresident s words are not to be trifled with. However, theAdmiral had been a faithful servant of the government, andcould not be sacrificed. Soon after he was appointed NavalAdviser to the President. Needless to say the Church wasgreatly pleased with this bold action of the Admiral and hewas called by not a few, the Modern Daniel of China.The following is a translation of part of an addressgiven by Admiral Li Ho himself at a meeting in Canton,telling of the way by which he was led to Christ.In my early youth, I believed I was a man of perfect character.Though I had heard missionaries preach on the death of Christ forthe salvation of men, I believed that if I sincerely followed theteachings of Confucius, I could by that road reach the goal of aperfect life, and that even the Almighty God could not very wellcondemn a perfect man to eternal destruction. But somehow I alsofelt that such a self-made perfection did not last. During the timeof the China-Japanese war in 1894 I was in command of a ^battleshipin an action which ended in a great disaster. I recall the occasionwith pain and shame till this day. Many battleships met their fatein most horrible ways before my eyes, and I myself was courtingdeath and had over thirty narrow escapes from being killed.Though wounded I was able to return with life still in me. At themoment when life and death were hanging in the balance I discoveredA 44