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- The following is from Wikipedia:
Joachim Mörlin (April 5, 1514, Wittenberg, Electorate of Saxony - May 29, 1571, Königsberg, Duchy of Prussia) was a Lutheran theologian and an important figure in the controversies following Martin Luther's death. He was the older brother of Maximilian Mörlin, a Lutheran theologian and Reformer.
Contents
1 Early life
2 Controversy with Osiander
3 Driven from Königsberg
4 Efforts for Theological Reconciliation
5 Recalled to Königsberg
6 Becomes Bishop of Samland
Early life
Mörlin was born at Wittenberg, where his father, Jodok Mörlin, also known as Jodocus Morlinus, was the Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wittenberg. Joachim himself studied at the same University under Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, Justus Jonas, and Casper Cruciger the Elder from 1532 to 1536. After a brief residence at Coburg, he returned to Wittenberg and in 1539 became Luther's chaplain, declining a call to succeed Poliander at Königsberg. While a true pupil of Luther, Mörlin was more influenced by the dogmatics of Melanchthon, though devoid of sympathy with the Philippistic efforts for union with the Reformed.
On September 22, 1540, Joachim left Wittenberg to become superintendent at Arnstadt, where, until deposed in March 1543 for his rigid discipline and opposition to union, he displayed great activity, moral earnestness, and courage. But neither the appeal of his congregation nor the sympathy of Luther could overcome the hostility of the Count of Schwartzburg, Günther XL.
On May 10, 1544, Mörlin became superintendent at Göttingen. Here he was equally firm in insistence on purity of life and doctrine, and wrote his Enchiridion catecheticum (1544), taught rhetoric in the Latin school, and lectured on Erasmus and the Loci of Melanchthon. Mörlin's activity in Göttingen came to an end with his uncompromising resistance to the union advocated by the Interim. On January 17, 1550, after vain protests by both council and congregation to the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Eric II, Mörlin was dismissed from office.
Mörlin went to Erfurt, thence to Arnstadt, and finally to Schleusingen, where he lived and preached in the castle of William IV, the Count of Henneberg. Yet even here Mörlin was not altogether safe, and on August 25, 1550, he left Schleusingen, arriving at Königsberg on September 13. There, since Prussia did not belong constitutionally to the Holy Roman Empire, he could not be molested, and was appointed, on September 27, 1550, pastor at the Kneiphöfer Dom and inspector.
Controversy with Osiander
There Mörlin became involved in the Osiandrian controversy, for it was not in his nature to remain neutral. However, the break between Mörlin and Osiander was gradual. When the latter defended his view of justification (act. 24, 1550), Mörlin remained a silent witness; but Osiander's work with on the incarnation and the image of God, and still more his Bericht und Trostschrift, with its savage attack on Melanchthon, led Mörlin to complain on February 7, 1551, to Albert of Prussia, though he did this so delicately that the duke commissioned him and Aurifaber, Osiander's son-in-law, to assemble the theologians for the conference which was held February 13-17. Here Mörlin's sincere desire for peace was evident, but his suspicion of Osiander increased, even though the latter claimed to be in harmony with Luther, denying the truth of Mörlin's Antilogia seu contraria doctrina inter Lutherum et Osiandrum. On April 19 Mörlin preached against those who depreciated the merits of Christ, and Osiander rightly took this as directed against himself.
The breach was now complete, and after an interchange of recriminations, Mörlin was replaced by Stancarus, professor of Hebrew. Before a new colloquy could be held, however, the duke directed (May 8) first Osiander and then his opponents to present their views in writing. Osiander hesitated, and Mörlin attacked him from the pulpit (May 27). The duke now forced Mörlin to defend his tenets in writing, and further roused him and his followers to passionate resistance by appointing Osiander to administer the bishopric of Samland, and by requiring Mörlin and others to submit to the decision of the church. The characteristic reply (July 21) was that Mörlin and his adherents refused to recognize Osiander's jurisdiction, since he was a heretic, and they appealed to a free synod. Osiander's opponents now continued their attacks and virtually met up a separate church. This was forbidden by the duke (August 12), who sent them Osiander's confession of faith, which was returned unread.
The polemics still continued, and Albert in despair sent Osiander's confession to the princes and cities of Germany, urging a synod. Mörlin's position was gaining strength in Prussia, and the majority of the opinions of the churches outside Prussia were also favorable to him. The very refusal of the duke to publish these condemnations of Osiander aided Mörlin, who, on May 23, 1552, published a polemic defending the doctrine of justification against his opponent, in which he clearly set forth the orthodox Wittenberg position, and emphasized the difference between it and Osiander's teaching. Besides continuing to urge the publication of the opinions just mentioned, Mörlin preached a sermon (June, 1552) directed against Osiander, deprecating speculations on the inscrutable essence of God; and Osiander replied with his impassioned Schmeckbier, in which he arraigned Mörlin and his friends.
The controversy increased in pettiness and coarseness, until Albert threatened (July 15, 1552) to depose Mörlin, only to receive the respectful but firm reply that Mörlin held it his divinely commissioned duty to polemize against Osiander. Meanwhile, a second opinion came from Württemberg, and from it both Osiander and Mörlin claimed the support of Johann Brenz, but on October 17, 1552, the weary struggle found its end in the death of Osiander, a defeated man.
Driven from Königsberg
The peace-loving policy of Albert was still to demonstrate its futility. The ambiguity of the Württemberg declaration seemed to him to constitute a good formula of union, and on January 24, 1553, he required that sermons on justification should be preached according to the six Württemberg articles, and that all coarseness should be avoided. This was tantamount to a defense of Osiandrianism, but the great majority of the duke's subjects were opposed, while Mörlin declared himself unable to obey the ducal mandate when contrary to the obligations of religion. This was the only course open to him, but the duke's displeasure was now finally incurred, and on February 16, 1553, he presented his resignation. Three days later he sought refuge in Danzig, where he awaited an expected recall, supported as he was by the council and the citizens. But all appeals to the duke were in vain; and the exile at last resigned himself to his punishment and sought for a new field of activity.
Mörlin had not long to wait. Brunswick and Lübeck were rivals for his services; the former won by right of priority, and he entered Brunswick on July 25, 1553. In the following year he received an assistant in the Melanchthonian Martin Chemnitz, and developed a powerful activity, strengthening the Lutheran cause with the aid of the religious peace of Augsburg, and preparing, in 1577, his Leges pro ministerio Brunsvicensi, which all the clergy of his superintendency were required to subscribe when entering upon office. He assailed the Reformed as bitterly as the Roman Catholics.
Again, in 1564, the council of Brunswick enacted that the Corpus doctrinae should be subscribed by all theologians, a rule which remained in force until 1672. And this was no dead letter, for in 1566 Johannes Becker, a pastor in Brunswick who had subscribed to the Corpus but become a Calvinist, was forced to resign and ultimately was banished from the city.
Meanwhile, Mörlin and Chemnitz were active in other inter-Lutheran controversies and in warding off Calvinistic attacks; and the former was the prime mover in the rejection, by the Brunswick clergy, of the doctrines of Schwenckfeld, besides being one of those asked by the council of Bremen to settle the dispute between Johann Timann and Albert Hardenberg. He furthermore defended Hesshusen in his pamphlet Wider die Landlügen der heidelbergischen Theologen (1565).
Efforts for Theological Reconciliation
In the struggle with Calvinism Mörlin supported Joachim Westphal, and to this end wrote his Confessio fidei de eucharistiae sacramento ministrorum ecclesiarum Saxonicarum (Magdeburg, 1557). At Coswik he sought to mediate between Melanchthon and Flacius, and in his eagerness for peace, when the delegates of the Hanseatic League assembled at Brunswick, he held a conference with Chemnitz, Westphal, and others (January 14, 1557), and reached an agreement on articles tending to reconcile the adiaphorists and those holding to the true Gospel. Mörlin then took these articles to Flacius at Magdeburg, after which he conferred with Melanchthon at Wittenberg, but returned to Brunswick unsuccessful (January 28, 1557).
Eight months later Mörlin went to the Colloquy of Worms, but by his opposition to the Philippists and by his withdrawal helped render the conference resultless. In December, 1558, he visited Weimar and Jena to reconcile Flacius and Strigel, and in 1560 he signed the petition of the Jena theologians to the princes to call a Lutheran synod to combat Calvinism. Mörlin was also a prominent figure at the conference of theologians from Lower Saxony held at Lüneburg in July, 1561, and wrote the confession of faith there drawn up, Erklärung aus Gottes Wort und kurzer Bericht der Artikel, etc. (Magdeburg, Jena, and Regensburg, 1561), which became binding on all pastors in Brunswick; and he again showed his Wittenberg orthodoxy in his Verantwortung der Präfation so für die lüneburgischen Artikel (1562).
In 1563 the Council of Wesel asked the opinion of the Brunswick theologians for a ruling on the admission of Reformed refugees from England, and the decision was that the immigrants should be received and instructed; but, should they propagate their erroneous views, they should be expelled.
In 1566 and 1567 Mörlin found himself compelled to break with his old friend Flacius because of the latter's teaching on original sin; and at the same time he wrote against the Antinomians his Tres disputationes de tertio usu legis.
Recalled to Königsberg
Meanwhile, inspired partly by him, the struggle had continued in Prussia between the Melanchthonians and the Osiandrian peace-policy of the court. Well informed of all that went on in Königsberg, Mörlin strengthened his sympathisers with his Historia welcher Gestalt sich die osiandrische Schwärmerei im Lande zu Preussen erhoben (Brunswick, 1554). In 1555 he published two other pamphlets on the course of events in Prussia; and finally Albert found himself obliged to yield.
On November 30, 1566, Mörlin was invited to return to Prussia, but he declined to leave Brunswick. The invitation was repeated, however (January 31, 1567), and after much persuasion Mörlin accepted and obtained leave of absence from the reluctant Council of Brunswick. On April 9, 1567, he and Chemnitz were joyfully welcomed in Königsberg, and at once began the restoration of Melanchthonian orthodoxy.
After much consideration it was decided that the confessional bases should remain the Augsburg Confession, the Apology, and the Schmalkald Articles, the only change being the correction of certain false doctrines which had crept in since the formulation of the Augsburg Confession. The duke, assenting to the rejection of Osiandrianism, readily agreed, and on May 6 Mörlin and Chemnitz gave him their Repetitio corporis doctrinae Christianae, refuting Osiandrianism, Synergism, Antinomianism, Majorism, and similar teachings. Accepted by the synod and the estates, the Repetitio was proclaimed by Albert on July 8, 1567, and Prussia was at last free from theological rancor.
Becomes Bishop of Samland
Though offered the bishopric of Samland, and though urged by clergy and laity alike to remain in Prussia, Mörlin still felt bound to Brunswick. Accordingly, promised by the estates (June 8, 1567) that no Calvinists should be allowed at court, he returned to Brunswick. But his stay there was brief, and he was unexpectedly released. Learning that a patricide had been let go free, both he and Chemmtz sharply upbraided the magistracy in a sermon on July 13, and were cited to appear before the court. Under these circumstances the envoys of Albert succeeded in inducing the council, unwilling though it was even then, to let Mörlin go (September 24, 1567). He was now declared bishop of Samland, while Chemnitz was made superintendent. Henceforth until his death, in his new office, Mörlin was active in preaching and catechizing, never ceasing to polemize against Philippists, Synergists, and, above all, Calvinists. He died, aged 57, in Königsberg.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. (1914). "article name needed". New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.
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This was translated by Wilbur Hansen Kalb and is included for the cause of death.
Here are the German and Latin transcription and the English translation of the Jubilee biography of Magister Stephan Mörlin. Note what happened to his brother Joachim ; that is so like him to ignore the doctors. The Historisches Lexicon Evangelischer Jubel-Priester also has a biography for Johann Christian Moerlin. But he seems to be from a different family ; this family had been in Liegnitz since 1528. He was born in Liegnitz, Silesia, the son of Deacon Johann Moerlin ( 1610 – 1667 ) and the father of Johann Christian Moerlin, another pastor, and Christian Gottfried Moerlin, the director of the Gymnasium Altenberg.
From Rev. Johann Matthias Gross ( 1676 – 1748 ), Historisches Lexicon Evangelischer Jubel-Priester, Zweyter Theil [ Historical Dictionary of the Evangelical Jubilee Pastors, Second Part ] ( Free Imperial City of Nürnberg : Michael Arnold, 1732 ), page 139 :
The German transcription :
101 ) MOERLINUS, M Stephan, wohlverdienter Pastor zu Hilpertshausen, war von Westhausen aus Francken gebürtig, dahin dessen Vater, Herr Jodocus Mörlinus, von dem Professoratu Logicæ auf recommendation des seel. Dr. Lutheri ist befördert worden, und war ein Bruder des berühmten und sehr verfolgten Joachimi Mörlini, welcher endlich als Bischoff zu Sammland den 23sten Maii An. 1571. gestorben da er sich, wider alles Einrathen der Medicorum einem Stein in der Blase wolte schneiden lassen ; wie auch des hochverdientë Coburgis. General-Superintendenten Dr. Maximiliani Mörlini, ( dessen Lebens=Beschreibung in Thomæ aufgegangenen Licht am Abend, weitläufftig a pag. 359. beschrieben stehet, die aber berde in dem Gelehrten Lexico nebst noch vielen andern ausgelassen sind. ) Dieser aber wurde anfänglich An. 1554. Diaconus zu Coburg, und nach 7. Jahren kam er zu dem Pastorat in Hilpertshausen, allwo er der 5te Evangelische Pfarrer worden ist, unterschrieb auch die Formulam Concordiæ, und starb erst An. 1604. eben in seinem Jubel=Jahr, wie aus M. Guthens wunderlicher Güte GOttes, Herr Thomæ in aufgegangenen Licht am Abend p. 438. berichtet hat.
The English translation :
101 ) MOERLINUS, Magister Stephan, a well-to-do Pastor of Hilpertshausen, was a native of Westhausen in Franconia, to whose father, Mr. Jodocus Mörlinus, was promoted from the Professorship of Logic on the recommendation of the Bl. Dr. Lutheri, and was a brother of the famous and very persecuted Joachimi Mörlini, who finally died as a bishop of Sammland on 23rd of May AD 1571, when he had cut himself a stone in the bladder against all the advices of the Physicians ; as well as the highly deserved General Superintendent of Coburg Dr. Maximiliani Mörlini, ( whose biography has been extensively given by Thomæ’s Aufgegangenen Licht am Abend, on page 359 but which, however, is omitted from the scholarly Lexico, together with many others. ) This man, however, was at first in the year 1554 Deacon in Coburg, and after 7 years he came to the Pastorate in Hilpertshausen, where he was the 5th Evangelical Pastor, also signed the Formula of Concord, and died at the beginning of the year 1604, just in his Year of Jubilee, as reported from Magister Guth’s Wunderlicher Güte GOttes [ Wonderfully Good LORD ], Mr. Thomæ, in the Aufgegangenen Licht am Abend [ Rising Light in the Evening ], p. 438.
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Mörlin, Joachim
Born Wittenberg 8. (6?) Apr 1514 died Königsberg [Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia] 21 May 1571, buried in the Cathedral 26 May 1571, father was Jodocus Mörlin, university professor in Wittenberg, University of Marburg 1535, Magister 1538, member of the University of Wittenberg, 10 Aug 1599, ordained as Preacher in the city church, 17 Aug 1539 Luther's chaplain. 1540 Doctor of Theology, 1540-1543 pastor in Arnstadt [Arnstadt, Ilm-Kreis, Thüringen, Germany], Superintendent in Göttingen [Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany], 27 Dec 1550 inserted. Also, pastor at the Kneiphöfer church in Königsberg [Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia] 19 Feb 1553 by Duke Albrecht because of all kinds. Overgrazing of land referenced, superintendent in Braunschweig [Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany]. Called back by the Duke 3 Feb 1567. Appointed Bishop of Samland, consecrated by Bishop Venediger in the Cathedral Church of Königsberg [Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia] on the 6th of September 1568, in 1567 set up the "Repititio corporis doctrinae Prutenicum" An avid visitor, an energetic defender of Lutheran doctrine and a faithful adviser to his sovereign. At the free residence and the native deputy had 3,000 marks in salary. Married 1539 Anna Cordussin, born 10 Oct 1518, died Königsberg [Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia] 3 Nov 1570, buried in the cathedral, daughter of Sebastian Cordus in Erfurt.
Children:
1. Joachim Mörlin, graduated from University of Königsberg [Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia] 6 Jul 1563 as Master of Arts. 1591 Fiscal in Königsberg [Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia].
2. Maria Mörlin, married Enoch Baumgartner, Ducal clerk in Königsberg [Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia].
3. Christian Mörlin.
[Original Page 1209 Starts Here]
4 Hieronymus (Jerome) Mörlin, born in Göttingen [Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany] 23 Dec 1545, died Tilsit [Sovetsk, Kaliningrad, Russia] 1602, archpriest.
5. Daniel Mörlin.
6. Anna Mörlin.
7. Jeremias (Jeremiah) Mörlin, born Braunschweig [Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany] 12.10.1554, died. 1607, pastor in Medenau [Logvino, Kaliningrad, Russia].
8. Maximilian Mörlin, born Braunschweig [Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany] 22 Nov 1558, died Wargen [Kotel'nikovo, Kaliningrad, Russia] 3.9.1603, pastor in Wargen [Kotel'nikovo, Kaliningrad, Russia].
Additions:
Meanwhile Doctor Joachim Mörlin had arrived on 13 Sep at Königsberg [Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia]. He was born in Wittenberg [Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany] where his father, Jodocus Mörlin, was Professor of Metaphysis and afterwards Pastor of Welschhausen, 2 Meillen of Coburg. Joachim first moved to Marpurg and Cosenitz and in his 18th year to Wittenberg, since he heard Lutherum. - and also made him doctor in 1540, and in just the year after Arnstadt called a preacher. The count aber enturlaubee him from 1543 - The year thereafter he was appointed the magistrate of Göttingen [Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany] to inspect their churches, he preached the 18th January and took the 10th May to his office. But as he preached in sharp contrast to the interim in 1548, and a guarantor was thereby initiated the imperial mandate. And to break in half and throw you into a nasty place; so sent the Duke. He had learned from the downfall of the sons that he had brought him from the city of Göttingen [Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany], and that he had also come to him by some reporters posted on the paths and passages, not Duke Erich Mutter, Princess Elisabeth, by their tutor, Jobst von Hohnstein, and He sent 14 Reuters to Oldendorf in search of him, from where he moved to Schleusingen. Thought Prince Elisabeth recommended him to her daughter and Hertzog Albrecht in Prussia, who voted him to the Superintendent in Holland. So Mörlin came to Königsberg with M. Francise Maartihuesen, past preacher to St. Johannis in Göttingen [Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany], and as Hertzog preached to him, he pleased him so much that he kept him in Königsberg and made him preacher of the cathedral church in Kneiphoffe He made the point Peter Hegemon had to dismiss him, and at the little church in the Löbenicht, he had to take on the position of parish priest, as well as improving his salary.
http://bs.cyty.com/kirche-von-unten/archiv/gesch/fs90heintze/Diestelmann-Moerlin.htm
Jürgen Diestelmann
The episcopal teaching of the superintendent using the example of Joachim Mörlins
Among the common prejudices, which are usually passed unchecked, these include : "In the Protestant Church there is no teaching office" or:
"In the Protestant church, every pastor is his own pope."
The opposite of the infallible Magisterium, which claimed the Roman Catholic Church for the Papal Office, should be described with it. Undoubtedly, these prejudices are underpinned by the fact that the ruler of teaching pluralism evidently teaches every pastor something else. But: Did the Lutheran church really never have a teaching post?
The main concern of the Reformation was the proclamation of the Word of God. Because what was written in the Holy Scriptures was scarcely known to the common man in the pre-Reformation period, but was now clearly proclaimed, it was gladly expressed by saying that "the light of the Gospel has been returned to the light." brought " . From the beginning, however, there was the danger that this bright light would be darkened again by other teaching theologians - such as Karlstadt, Münzer, Zwingli, Calvin and others - who appeared alongside the Lutheran Reformation. The fruits of their work have broken Protestantism to this day. In view of this, there is often a demand for a binding teaching office. The more the question comes up:Did the Lutheran church really never have a teaching post?
If the Confessio Augustana teaches in Article 28 that it is the divine right of the bishops to "preach the gospel, forgive sin, judge doctrine, reject the doctrine contrary to the gospel, and the ungodly Godless Being is evidently excluded from the Christian community without human power alone through the Word of God "- this means that the Magisterium belongs to the bishops.
That there should be bishops, the reformers have often pronounced. But they rejected the mixing of spiritual and temporal power in the hands of the bishops, as it existed in the medieval Occident. The episcopate had become a secular ruling office. As a result, the bishops no longer fulfilled their spiritual duties, but had them performed, at best, by representatives. The Lutheran confessors thus clearly emphasized in Augsburg, in 1530, the distinction between spiritual and secular regiment: "For this reason our people have been compelled, to the consolation of conscience, to indicate the difference between spiritual and secular power, the sword and regiment."
Accordingly, the Smalcald Articles (1538) state: "If the bishops were to be right bishops and accept the church and the gospel, one would want to do so for the sake of love and unity, but not out of necessity us and our preachers ordained and confirmed ... But since they are not right bishops or do not want to be, but secular lords and princes who neither preach nor teach, baptize, communicate, nor do any work or office of the church but those who call, persecute, and condemn even those who profess such ministry, let the church not remain without servants for their sake. "
This is the background against which the installation of the superintendents of the Lutheran Church can be seen. This had to be done because, on the one hand, the bishops who were then in office refused to be ordained candidates for Lutheran parish candidates, and on the other because a bishop's office was considered necessary. The title of "Superattendent" chosen for the new office - in the beginning it was said instead of "Superintendent" - was nothing but the Latinized form of the Greek episkopos (bishop). That's why z. Luther, for example, sometimes referred to his former conventual brother Johann Lang (Reformer and senior clergyman Erfurt) as both a "superattendent" and a "bishop," although Lang did not officially bear such a title at the time. As a "bishop" Luther also addressed others who had a corresponding office - in his letters between 1522 and 1546 about 250 times! So he also called Joachim Mörlin after his appointment as Superintendent of Göttingen as"faithful Bishop of the Göttingen Church" .
Luther saw in the superintendents not only the right-wing bishops, but could, with regard to the bearers of such an office, quite innocently of the "successio apostolica" , d. H. speak of the chain of vocations leading from the apostles to the bishops. So he wrote in the great Galatas commentary:"So there is a double divine vocation, one immediate and one immediate: God calls us all to the vocation of the Word today through mediate vocation, ie, through a vocation that is done by men, but the apostles are directly called by Christ, like the The prophets in the Old Testament of God Himself. The apostles later called their disciples, as Paul did Timothy, Titus, etc. - they then called the bishops, as Titus 1 is read, the bishops have called their successors to our days And so it will go on to the end of the world, that is the mediate vocation, because it is through man, and yet it is divine. " From this point of view of Luther, it was not the succesio but the jurisdictionof the medieval bishops, which was extinguished with the installation of superintendents by the reformers.
At the Augsburg Reichstag in 1530, people wanted to clear the way for a re-recognition of the episcopal jurisdiction under the conditions of evangelical preaching and a sacrament administration that did not contradict the Gospel. A re-recognition of the bishops within the framework of the present constitution of the Church and the Reich was possible if theologically clear distinction were made between their office as spiritual leaders of their dioceses (bishops in the true sense), and their office as princes.
When in 1544 the cathedral chapter of the bishopric of Kamin approached Bugenhagen to take over the episcopate there, "for his high doctrine, virtue, incorruptible life, and change, that he has true and undecayed witness to all the Christian churches," he declined , As a reason for this rejection, he stated that "the episcopal government must take two loads at the time of this time ." The first and most important is the spiritual one, namely "teaching, visiting, supervising preachers, cultivating and maintaining right-wing consistories". The other "burden" is the secular government. For the former, God gave him "a good deal of mercy"but he does not feel adept at secular government. He would be "too much deducted from the books and his exercises in the studio and prayer through this worldly burden" . The amalgamation of spiritual and secular regiment proved thus also with possible new appointments of vacant episcopal seats as obstacle for the preservation of the traditional episcopate. So then had to build up train by train replacement structures necessarily.
In today's ecumenical discussion, many complain that in the time of the Reformation the "apostolic succession" of the bishops had been demolished. But this is an issue that was completely unknown to the Latin Middle Ages and even to the Reformers. It was not touched on any side. The accusation against the Reformers was not aimed at the superintendents not being in the "apostolic succession," but exercising their office without papal confirmation.
The office of the superintendent was set up in 1528, initially for the Saxon Kurfüstentum with Luther's writing "teaching the visitators". In it there is the chapter "By decree of the superattender ." About him the following was determined:"This pastor should be superattendent and have diligent attention to all the other priests who sit in the ministry or precinct of the place, that in the respective parishes taught right and Christian and preached the word of God and the holy gospel pure and faithful, and the people are blessed with the holy sacraments after the institution of Christ, that they also lead a good life so that the common people receive better and no nuisance, and not against God's word or anything that would be of service to rebellion against the authorities; preach or teach. "
In the same year Bugenhagens church order for the city of Brunswick appeared. In this Bugenhagen ordered under the heading "From the superattendent and his helper" not only the office of superintendent, but also the deputy of the Kodadjutors (helper). He thus established the two offices that have since co-existed in Braunschweig. Bugenhagen wrote in:"First and foremost, we must and want to have a superattendent, that is, an overseer to whom, with his adjutant, the whole cause of all the preachers and the school, as much as it concerns doctrine and unity, is prescribed by the honorable council and the church As there are the treasure chest gentlemen, commanded to supervise what one teaches, and how, etc. That is very necessary, for by the favor of God we want to have harmonious sermons for the word of God throughout the city, as well as from God Grace has begun and is in vogue. " So worked in Braunschweig z. B. next to the superintendent Joachim Mörlin as coadjutor of 8 years younger Martin Chemnitz, before this 1567 took over the office of the superintendent itself.
In the two cited writings reference is also made to Luther's work "From secular authority" and ordered the relationship of spiritual and secular regiment. According to the doctrine of the two kingdoms, both are clearly distinguished and the combination of both, as it was associated with the conventional episcopate, is abolished. The secular regiment rules "by the sword," while the spiritual regiment alone is given the word. Both should work together in mutual respect for their functions.
There was, of course, a potential for conflict here, which in the following years was to be felt in many problem cases, especially when a secular authority opposed the spiritual regiment. The curriculum vitae of Joachim Mörlins offers clear examples of this, especially with regard to his first superintendent office in Arnstadt.
Joachim Mörlin had been after the study of theology "Kaplan" in Wittenberg at the local parish church. In 1540 he was promoted to the post of doctor of the office of superintendent of Arnstadt. The fact that he received this vocation at the age of twenty-six was not unusual at the time, for there was a shortage of spiritual leaders in modern times, as more and more cities and territories joined the Reformation.
Mörlin was very enthusiastic about the Arnstadt Superintendent Office. He proclaimed the gospel vividly and clearly. His sermons attest to the pastoral endeavor of a life of the faithful entrusted to him by the Word of God. Repeatedly, for example, he commented on questions of holy matrimony, giving very specific instructions.
The obligation to watch over the teaching meant for him not only a theoretical watch over correct teachings. Because he was concerned with the practical implementation of the pure doctrine of the Word of God, both in the life of the individual Christian and in the life of the community, he found it necessary to scourge even the unchristian behavior of the urban regiment. In this he was so consistent that it had to come to open conflict with the not too pious Arnstadt authority. Under the chairmanship of Gothaer superintendent Friedrich Myconius, who was much older and more experienced in his office, a synod of all ordained persons was held. This adopted the so-called "simple foolishness and advice on how to act without frivolity with such persons who have fallen into public vices" . Thereafter, such a person should be exhorted to pray with pleadings and requests. If this does not help, the pastor should visit and warn the person with two witnesses. If the person persists in his "stubborn sense and heart," the pastor and the two witnesses should report to the superintendent. After another consultation with other "communicable brothers" should be the ban.
This "simple misgiving ..." was submitted to Luther for comment. He replied with a letter from his own hand in which he expressly approved the manner of this procedure. He wrote : "I like these rules of procedure because they agree with the establishment of the key office (Matthew 18)."
However, Mörlins public opinion against the city authorities had the consequence that the city council quit him without further ado. To this has probably also contributed that the manner of his appearance was a bit premature due to his youth and inexperience, because the words of Myconius point out: "Mr. D. Joachim is certainly a learned, pious and good man" , but sometimes something " to be fast . At the same time, Myconius emphasized that the watchman's office had never unfairly served Mörlin; it could "no one say that he has violently punished him, but only what prevents to eternal life ...".Mörlin was generally regarded as a conscientious, scholarly, and highly respected theologian, and he was rightly held to respect his attitude towards the city council of Arnstadt. Later there was a reconciliation between Mörlin and the Arnstadt. But he did not return there because he now held the post of superintendent in Göttingen.
But even on his next two stages of life Mörlin had to resist secular authority. His person is a living counter-proof against the assertion that Lutherans have always been overly obtuse. Since the superintendents had no temporal authority in their office and exercised their spiritual regiment only with the word, it seemed obvious that some authorities who were unwilling to bow to the word of the spiritual regiment misused their temporal power over them. Conflicts of the relationship between the spiritual regiment of the superintendent and the secular regiment of the authorities were there again and again elsewhere. Mörlin himself therefore wrote an opinion, which was quoted again and again in the following years, on the question of how far such a magistrate was entitled,
The appointment as Superintendent of Göttingen he received at the end of 1543 by the Calenberg Duchess Elisabeth. This had after the death of her husband, the Duke Erich I., held the regency of the Duchy of Brunswick-Calenberg in the guardianship of her son Erich II. She was a daughter of the Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg and an avid and devout patron of the Lutheran Reformation. Mörlin had a generous patron in her. That's why the first time he worked in Göttingen was trouble-free. Similar to Arnstadt, he met the duties of his spiritual profession in Göttingen conscientiously - to the great satisfaction of Elisabeth.
But when Erich II, who had a very Lutheran upbringing, had come of age and had taken over the reign himself, he turned away from his mother and broke away from dependence on her. Since he now placed himself ecclesiastically and politically in the shadow of his cousin Heinrich the Younger of Wolfenbüttel, the consequences for the Reformation ordered church system in the Principality of Calenberg were catastrophic. The Augsburg interim adopted on May 15, 1548, demanded from the Protestant estates the return to the old faith or submission to the interim. Erich II enforced this for his principality with all decisiveness. Thus Mörlin again had to oppose the secular authority. He did so with determination, especially from the pulpit. Thus ended his Göttingen work as a superintendent, because under pressure from Erich II, the Council decided in January 1550 Mörlins dismissal. Duchess Elizabeth helped him to escape, so that he the arrest and long-standing imprisonment, the z. Antonius Corvin suffered, escaped.
The next life station Mörlins was Königsberg. After a short stay in Schleusingen (county Henneberg) he arrived there in September 1550. He was warmly received by Duke Albrecht of Prussia. Actually, he should first receive the Superintendent position of Prussian-Holland. But the Duke found so much favor with him, that he appointed him immediately as inspector and pastor at the "Kneiphofschen" Dom in Königsberg. This resulted in a direct proximity to Andreas Osiander, the Duke Albrecht of Prussia in 1549 had transferred the Old Town Parish and a professorship at the University of Königsberg.
But soon the Osiander dispute broke out here. In a disputation, Osiander put forward opinions on justification that differed greatly from the general view: our righteousness, Osiander said, can not consist in the atonement of Christ, but must refer to the Christ who lives in us; H. to the divine nature communicated to us through the appropriation of the gospel. Osiander had intended to express in his own way certain aspects of Luther's theology that had otherwise been obscured, but he blended the Reformation ideas with speculations derived from Kabbalah and mysticism. The most fundamental concern of the Lutheran doctrine of justification was thereby falsified. Mörlin resisted this and also took position in the pulpit.
Duke Albrecht, however, was completely under the influence of Osiander. He pursued his opponents with great severity and also his originally so friendly attitude to Mörlin opposite defeated. As soon as he received news of his sermon, he had not only a pulpit ban for him, but also his immediate expulsion from the Duchy of Prussia. So Mörlin had to leave Königsberg in February 1553 and was even forced to leave behind his sick wife, who then later succeeded him to Brunswick.
He immediately received the appointment to the superintendent's office in Braunschweig. Here he was able to do a blessed service from 1553 to 1567, together with his co-major Martin Chemnitz, whom he had met in Königsberg. The Brunswick church historian Johannes Best (+ 1928) wrote about this work of Mörlin in Braunschweig:"Such iron, belligerent theologians were very uncomfortable in those times, when they fought to the death not only for patriotic goals, but also for religious, although the princes, who eagerly sought the ecclesiastical direction, but to the people as fearless independent military leaders in the fight of faith just right.The orthodoxy was then in the free city of Braunschweig also popular because it was the opposite of all adulation upwards of men who used everything for their conviction, they were happy to influence.
Thus, in Braunschweig under Mörlin's direction, a high flowering of religious and ecclesiastical life developed. Mörlin showed himself to be a burning light, which consumed itself in the service of the house of God, as a man full of holy spirit, great as a speaker, greater still as a religious-Christian character. His change was like lightning, so his words were like thunder sound. Full of enthusiasm for the preservation of the pure, blessing doctrine, keen and strict in the discipline of the Church, he was again lovable towards those who recognized their guilt and sought to improve. For those who, notwithstanding all sincere admonitions, had been to the Last Supper in two years, the clergy under his direction refused the Christian burial so as not to partake of their sins, rather, to publicly testify to their unwillingness to avoid making pious, obedient Christians and stubborn unbelievers for the same number of eighth and thus making the holy Christian religion an unnecessary thing. Thus, this strict discipline testifies to the highest love, as even the most affectionate parents tend to be the strictest to their children. "
Joachim Mörlin did his apprenticeship in the true sense of the word, working together with his co-tutor Martin Chemnitz to develop a confessional book ("Corpus doctrinae") for the Church of the City of Brunswick, in which the teaching principles were laid down in a binding manner. The clerics of the city had to sign as a teaching commitment "VI Leges pro ministerio Brunsvicensi" .
In community with other cities of Lower Saxony, a book of confessions has been developed, which is to be regarded as a forerunner of the - later with considerable participation of Martin Chemniz worked out - book of concord of 1580. The intention was to reach agreement on the basis of the Augsburg Confession, its apology and the Schmalkaldic article within northern German Lutheranism. Together with the superintendents of the cities of Lüneburg, Hamburg and Lübeck Mörlin had already 1557 eight articles "on the comparison between the adiaphorists and the true Evangelii confessors"wrote in Wittenberg for a reconciliation between Flacians and Melanchthonians. At the Lüneburg Convention in July 1561, the theologians, seconded by the cities of Lübeck, Bremen, Hamburg, Rostock, Magdeburg, Lüneburg, Wismar, and Brunswick, agreed on a "declaration" written by Mörlin on the corpus doctrinae, binding on all, on the condemnation of false doctrines (Osiandrism, Majorism, Sacrosis and Adiaphorism) and the jurisdiction claimed by the Pope on the occasion of the renewed invitation of the Protestants to the Council of Trent.
Within the city of Brunswick, there were hardly any occasions for Mörlin to argue with the secular authorities. The council - as well as the people - valued and honored him as a superintendent and he respected the members of the council as "his masters".
Meanwhile, the ecclesiastical relationship in Prussia was very low. Osiander had already died in 1552, but there were fierce arguments with his friends and students, which resulted in a decline of church life. Therefore, the Prussian Estates demanded the recall of Mörlin 13 years previously expelled to Königsberg and his appointment as Bishop of Samland, especially as Duke Albrecht now realized that he had done Mörlin injustice. In Konigsberg it was known that Mörlin in Braunschweig, in spite of the severe insults experienced in Königsberg in his sermons for "the old gray head in Prussia"had ordered to pray. The decrepit Duke was now moving to write to him himself. He desired to return him to Chemnitz under brilliant conditions. After some negotiations it was agreed that Joachim Mörlin returned to Königsberg as Bishop of Samland, while Martin Chemnitz remained as Mörlins successor in the office of the city superintendent in Brunswick.
Since 1525 Georg von Polentz had been Bishop of Samland. Although he had probably never studied theology, he became the reformer of East Prussia, supported by Lutheran theologians such as Johannes Brießmann, Paul Speratus and Johann Poliander (Gramann). Thus, it would have been possible to have a Lutheran bishop seat in continuity with the old church. But after his death (1550) Duke Albrecht of Prussia furnished against the opposition of the clergy and the nobility of his favored Andreas Osiander with the title of president of the Samland bishopric. With the appointment of Mörlin, the episcopal constitution was restored.
Mörlin remained four years of restless activity as Bishop of Samland. The confessional book Corpus Doctrinae Prutenicum, whose origins were due to him, served as the basis for his teaching, and he undertook a number of visitation journeys, in which he ordered the ecclesiastical conditions in his diocese.The consistorial constitution introduced by Duke Albrecht was abolished again So that Mörlin, as Bishop of Samland, was truly episcopal in those last years of life, his health was now so weakened that on May 29, 1571, he died as a result of a failed bladder operation.
Later, however, the consistorial constitution prevailed in general and the Magisterium went largely to the consistories - perhaps a first step that the Magisterium of the superintendent was pushed back. Today, the office of the superintendent in the state churches appears in some places only as an administrative function, as a subordinate link between church authorities and communities.
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1514 - 1571 (57 years)
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