"Wake-ikatsu-tsino-kanii, in .Japanese my- thology, is the god of tlashes of lightning; a sidilime god, resident in the main sanctuary at Karao, near Mijako. and who guards the fate of the Mikado. In this sanct- uary are yearly held several festivals, of which one, Obi- matsuri, is especially remarkable, because the priests then appear in the most costly apparel, superseding even the splendor of the apparel of the choir of music. Besides festive processions, horse-races are a main feat- ure of the occasion, in which only kami priests and court servants are permitted to participate. — Vollmer, Wd7-terb. d. Mgthol. s. v.
Wakeley, Joseph B., D.D., a Methodist Episco- pal minister, was born at Danbury, Conn., in 1809. He was converted when about sixteen, and in 1833 joined the New York Conference, which he served suc- cessively at Salisbury, Conn.; Lee and Lenox, Canaan, Stockport, Claverack, and Bloomville, N. Y. ; Seventh Street, New York city; and in 1843 at Birmingham and Milford, Conn. In 1844 he was transferred to New Jersey, in 1852 to New York East Conference, and two years later returned to the New York Conference. From 1866 to 1868 Dr. Wakeley was presiding elder of Poughkeepsie District, and for the next four years held the same otiice on the Newburgh District. He died in New York city, April 27, 1875. Dr. Wakeley was a remarkable man in many respects. His cast of mind was practical. He was a model pastor and a prudent counsellor. As an ecclesiastical antiquarian he had no equal in the Church. His writings were mainly historical and biographical memoirs of early Methodism, and embrace Lost Chap- ters Recovered from the Early History of Methodism : — Anecdotes nf the Wesley s : — Anecdotes of Whitefield : — Heroes of Methodism : — Life and Sermons of Beaumont : — and Bnehm's Reminiscences. See Minutes of Annual Conferences, \SlQ,\i.bb; Sprague, .4 ?!««/.«; of the Amer. Pulpit, vol. vii ; Simpson, Cyclop, of Methodism, s. v.
Wakemanites, a small party of fanatics existing at New Haven, Conn., in 1855, who regarded Rhoda Wakeraan as a divinely commissioned prophetess that
had been raised from the dead, according to her own prediction. Their credulity was carried to an unusual extreme. The so-called prophetess claimed that a farm- er named Justus JIatthews was possessed by an evil spirit, and that it was necessary to put him to death in order to remove it. Her followers were ready to per- form the deed, and even the man himself was willing to submit to be murdered as the only means of being rid of the evil spirit. Upon the commission of the crime the fanatical sect was soon extinguished.
Waku-nawo-.gonajo, in Japanese mythology, is a festival in Dairi, held on the first rat-day of the sec- ond month, by the eating of fresh vegetables.
"Wala, in Norse mytliology, was a wise woman, an enchantress, endowed not with imaginary, but with real, supernatural powers, and able to tix the fate of men.
Wala, abbot of Corbie, was the son of Bernard (natural brother of Charlemagne) by a Saxon woman, and seems to have been born about 765. He studied at the palatine school, and received the name of .4 rsCne (male) from his teacher, Alcuin, on account of his ener- gy. Tudesque was his native tongue, but he well un- derstood Latin and Greek. He was employed by his imperial brother in several distant embassies and home duties, but was neglected on the accession of Louis the Pious (814) ; and two years after he assumed the clerical habit at Corbie, where his brother Adalhard was abbot. He was banished by the royal disfavor, but was recalled in 822, and in 826 became abbot. He died in October, 835, of grief, at the civil commotions of the times. See Hocfer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s. v.
"Walaeus, Anthony, an eminent Dutch Protestant divine, was born at Ghent, Oct. 3, 1573. He officiated as pastor at several diiferent places; declared in favor of tlie Counter-remonstrants, and was one of those who drew up the canons of the Synod of Dort. He after- wards became professor of divinity at Leyden, and died July 9, 1639. He wrote. Compendium Ethicm Aristote- licw (1636), and the greater part of the translation of the Flemish Bible. See Chalmers, Biog. Diet. s. v. ; Biog. Universelle, s. v. " Wale."
Walafrid Strabo. See Stkabo.
Walaskialf, in Norse mythology, was one of the palaces which Odin had in Asgard. It was covered en- tireh' with silver, and in the main hall were thrones for all the higher deities, one, however, especially for Odin. It was also called Hlidskialf, and from it Odin could view the whole earth.
"Walburga, St. See Walpurgis.
Walch, Christian Wilhelm Franz, a theolo- gian of (i(ittingen,was born Dec. 25, 1726, at Jena, where his father was professor of theology. He travelled with his elder brother, Johann, after completing his studies, and made the acquaintance of many of the foremost celeb- rities in the literary world of his time. On his return he was made extraordinary professor of philosophy at Jena, in 1750; and three j'ears afterwards professor of the same branch in ordinary at Gottingen. In 1754 he be- gan to teach theology as extraordiuarv professor, and in 1757 received the theological chair in- the Gottingen faculty. His lectures covered the entire field of theol- ogy ; and, when supplemented with the numerous learn- ed works he wrote and tlie administrative duties he per- formed in the government of the university and other institutions, demonstrated his great industry and capac- ity for work. He was made a member of various learn- ed societies, and an honorary consistorial councillor of Great Britain. He was married in 1763, and died of apoplexy in 1784.