"Wagenaar, Hans, a Dutch historian, who was born at Amsterdam, Oct. 31, 1709, was chiefly occupied in commerce and literature, and died March 1, 1773, de- serves notice here for several ecclesiastical monographs, for which see Bioi/. Unlrerselle, s. v.
"Wagenseil, Christian Jakob, a German writer, who was born Nov. 23, 1750, at Tvauf beuren, and died .Jan. 8, 1839, at Augsburg, is the author of, Beitrag zur Geschichte der Refurmation, des dreissif/jdhric/en Kriee/es, des wesfphdlischen Friedens u. der Jesuit en, vom J ah re 1524 bis zu Ende des Jahres 1099 (Leipsic, 1830):— W- rich V. Hntten, nach seinem Lehen, seinem Charakter u. seinen Schriften geschildert (Nuremberg, 1832 ; new ed. 1858); — Prdlat J.Cp.v.Schmid zu Ulm,nach snnem Le- hen, Wirken ti. Charakter (Augsburg, 1828). See Winer, llandbiich der theol. Lit. i, 747,807; Zuchold, Bibl. Theol. ii, IIO.S. (B. P.)
"Wagenseil, Johann Christoph, a Protestant theologian of Germany, was born Nov. 20, 1033, at Nu- remberg. In 1007 he was appointed professor of his- tory at Alfdorf ; in 1074 he occupied the chair of Ori- ental languages, and from 1097 that of ecclesiastical law, and died Oct. 9, 1705, lie is known as the author
WAGES
846
WAGNER
of Tela Ignea SntancB.sire Areani et IJorrib'des Judao- rum adrcjvus Chrixtum JJeum et ChriKtiaiuun Rdifiioiiem I.ibri ( Altilorf, 1G81), a work containing the anti-Chris- tian literature of the Jews in a Latin translation and refutation. He also translated into Latin the Talmudic treatise Sotah, ni:lD O^ (ibid. 1674), with very valu- able notes. Besides, he wrote, Denimciutio Cluistiitna ltd Omnes Impel antes qui Judieos habent sub Jnrudic- tione sua (ibid. 1703-4; reprinted in Schudt's Jud'unhe I)eiikwuidi;ikeiten, ii, 339): — IHaputatio Circulcavi de Judceis (ibid. 1705): — Exercitationes Sex Varii Arrju- merUi (ibid. 1698). See Fiirst. Bibl. Jud. iii, 489 ; Winer, Jlandbuch der theol. Lit. i, 30, 380, 524. (B. P.)
Wages (usually some form of "IS'J, sakdi; " to hire" [especially in the Hitlipael, Hag. i, 6, to " earn wages"], chiefly "i-— \ siddr [Gen. xxxi, 8; Exod. ii, 9; Ezek. xxix, 18, 19; elsewhere "hire," " reward," etc.], and P'IS'^'2, miskoreth [Gen. xxxix, 15, 31, 41 ; '• reward," Kuth ii, 12]; also tTSV'S. peiilldh [Lev. xix, 13; "re- ward," Psa. cix, 20], u-uik [as elsewhere mostly ren- dered]; fticrBog [John iv, 3(!, elsewhere " reward" or " hire" J,/)r/y ,• oxptoviov [Luke iii, 14; vi,23; 2 Cor. xi, 8; "charges," 1 Cor. ix, 7], strictly i'alions\ according to the earliest usages of mankind, are a return made by a purchaser for something of value — specifically for work performed. Thus labor is recognised as property', and wages as the price paid or obtained in exchange for such property. In this relation there is obviously nothing improper or humiliating on the side either of the buyer or the seller. They have each a certain thing which the other wants, and, in the exchange which they in consequence make, both parties are alike served. In these few words lies the theory, and also the justification, of all service. The entire commerce of life is barter. In hire, then, there is notliing improp- er or discreditable. It is only a hireling — that is, a mer- cenary, a tnean, sordid spirit — that is wrong. So long as a human being has anything to give which another human being wants, so long has he something of value in the great market of life ; and whatever that some- thing may be. provided it does not contribute to evil passions or evil deeds, he is a truly respectable capital- ist, and a useful member of the social community. The scriptural usage in a|)plying the term translated "wages" to sacred subjects — thus the Almighty himself says to Abraham (Gen. xv, 1), "I am thy exceeding great re- ward"— tends to confirm these views, and to suggest the observance of caution in the emploj'ment of the words "hire" and "hireling," which have acquired an oft'ensive meaning by no means originally inherent in themselves, or in the Hebrew words for which they stand (xxx, 18, 32, 33).— Kitto. See Hireling.
The earliest mention of wages is of a recompense, not in money, but in kind, to Jacob from Laban (Gen. xxix, 15,20; xxx, 28; xxxi, 7, 8, 41). This usage was only natural among a pastoral and changing population like that of the tent-dwellers of Syria. Burekhanlt men- tions a case in Syria resembling closely that of Jacob with Laban— a man who served eight years fur his food, on condition of obtaining his master's daughter in mar- riage, and was afterwards compelled by ids father-in- law to perform acts of service for him\Si/ri(i, p. 297). In Egypt, monej' payments by way of wages were in use, but the terms caiuiot now be ascertained (Exod. ii, 9). Among the Jews wages in general, whether of sol- diers or laborers, are mentioned (Hag. i, 6; Ezek. xxix, 18, 19; John iv, 36). The only mention of the rate of wages in Scripture is foinid in the ])aral)le of the house- holder and vineyard (JIatt. xx, 2), where the laborer's wages are set at one denarius per day. i)robably = fifteen cents, a rate which agrees with Tobit v, l-i, where a drachma is mentioned as the rate per day, a sum which may V)e fairly taken as ccpiivalent to the denarius, and to the usual pay of a soldier {(en (i^sex per diem) in the later days of the Koman republic (Tacitus, .•]««, i, 17;