Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: L217-VGF
• Education: Between 1532 and 1536, University of Wittenberg, Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany; Sudied Under Luther, Melanchthon, Jonas and Crucigar
• Life Event: Between 22 Sep 1540 and Mar 1543, Arnstadt, Ilm-Kreis, Thüringen, Germany; Lutheran Pastor
• Life Event: Between 10 May 1544 and 17 Jan 1550, Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany; Lutheran Superintendent
• Life Event: Between 13 Sep 1550 and 16 Feb 1553, Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia; In former times this was Königsberg, Ostprussia, Germany
• Life Event: Between 25 Jul 1553 and 24 Sep 1567, Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany; Lutheran Pastor
• Life Event: Between 24 Sep 1567 and 13 May 1571, Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia; Lutheran Bishop of Samland

Notes:

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.

Buried:
Buried in the Cathedral

Died:
In former times this was Königsberg, Ostprussia, Germany

Joachim married Cordatus, Anna on 18 Jan 1536 in Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. Anna (daughter of Cordatus, Sebastia and Schultheiß, Priska) was born on 10 Oct 1518 in Themar, Hildburghausen, Thüringen, Germany; died on 3 Nov 1570 in Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia; was buried after 3 Nov 1570 in Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Mörlin, Anna was born in UNKNOWN in Arnstadt, Ilm-Kreis, Thüringen, Germany; died on 14 Jun 1543 in Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany.
2. Mörlin, Hieronymus was born on 25 Dec 1545 in Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany; died in 1602 in Sovetsk, Kaliningrad, Russia.
3. Mörlin, N.N. was born in 1549 in Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany; died in 1549 in Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany.
4. Mörlin, Jeremias was born on 12 Oct 1554 in Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany; died in 1607 in Logvino, Kaliningrad, Russia; was buried in 1607 in Logvino, Kaliningrad, Russia.
5. Mörlin, Maximilian was born on 22 Nov 1558 in Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany; died on 3 Sep 1603 in Kotel'nikovo, Kaliningrad, Russia.
6. Mörlin, Anna was born in UNKNOWN in Germany; died in DECEASED in Germany.
7. Mörlin, Joachim was born in UNKNOWN in Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany; died after 13 May 1571.
8. Mörlin, Christian was born in UNKNOWN in Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany; died after 13 May 1571.
9. Mörlin, Daniel was born in UNKNOWN in Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany; died after 13 May 1571.
10. Mörlin, Anna was born in UNKNOWN in Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany; died after 13 May 1571 in Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad, Russia.
11. Mörlin, Maria was born in UNKNOWN in Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany; died after 13 May 1571.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate Surnames: Mörlin, Morlinus, Morlinius, Mhorlin, Maurus, Murfein, Morle, Mohr, Morl
• Nickname: Jodok
• Education: 13 Sep 1508, Freiburg im Breisgau, Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Entered the University
• Education: 1509, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany; On Scholarship
• Education: 6 Oct 1510, University of Wittenberg, Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany; Bachelors Degree
• Education: 10 Feb 1512, University of Wittenberg, Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany; Masters Degree
• Life Event: 1514, University of Wittenberg, Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany; Professor of Metaphysics
• Life Event: 1516, University of Wittenberg, Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany; Dead of the Faculty of Arts
• Life Event: 1520, Westhausen, Hildburghausen, Thüringen, Germany; Pastor and Administrator
• Life Event: Between 9 Apr 1521 and 15 Sep 1550, Westhausen, Hildburghausen, Thüringen, Germany; Lutheran Pastor

Notes:

The following was written by Wilbur Kalb:

Jodok Mörlin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Jodok Mörlin, also known in Latin as Jodocus Morlinus or Maurus ( ca 1490, Feldkirch, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire - 15 September 1550, Westhausen bei Hildburghausen, Electorate of Saxony ), was a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wittenberg, the Lutheran Pastor of Westhausen bei Hildburghausen, and a Reformer. He is famed as one of the first witnesses, allies and participants of the Reformation and as the father of two Lutheran theologians, Joachim Mörlin and Maximilian Mörlin.

Contents
1 Life
1.1 Before the Reformation
1.2 During the Reformation
1.3 After the Reformation
2 Family
3 References
4 External Links
5 Bibliography

Life

Before the Reformation
Jodok Mörlin was born in or around 1490 in Feldkirch in the Vorarlberg, the westernmost part of the Archduchy of Austria. He was the son of Hugo Mörlin ( 1446 - 1518 ) and his wife, Lucia Ebenko ( d. 1513 ), the grandson of Johann Mörlin, and the great-grandson of another Hugo Mörlin. The name, Jodok, was not Germanic; it was Breton. Jodok might have gotten his rare name if he was baptized on 13 December, the feast day of St Judoc, a 7th Century noble from Brittany.

Nothing is known about his early years. But in 1508 he was studying at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau, with Johann Eck as one of his teachers, and then, on a scholarship, at the University of Leipzig in 1509 and the University of Wittenberg in 1510. Here in Wittenberg his career was made. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree after only a few months in 1510 and a Magister’s degree in 1512 and became the Professor of Metaphysics in 1514 and then the Dean of the Faculty of Arts in 1516, all at the University of Wittenberg. In 1517 and 1518, he taught an introductionary course about “the three principal languages, Latin, Hebrew and Greek, and the ‘Luther College’ grammar [ der dreier vornehmsten sprach, der lateinischen, jüdischen und kriechischen, und der Kollege Luther grammatica ].”

During the Reformation
Three years after the beginning of the Reformation, in the spring of 1521, Mörlin was appointed as the pastor of Westhausen. His post had been left vacant in 1520 with the death of the last Catholic priest, Henningus Gode. By then, Mörlin was a presbyter at the Diocese of Magdeburg and already the Conventor [ parish administrator ] of Westhausen. He was recommended to replace Father Gode by Martin Luther and presented by two brothers, Frederick the Wise, the Elector of Saxony, and John the Steadfast, the Duke of Saxony, to the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Konrad von Thüngen. Mörlin was accepted and installed on 9 April 1521.

By then, Mörlin already had a wife and at least five sons, including Joachim and Maximilian, so he was, as Luther had noted in March 1521, “impotent and very poor [ unvermögend und sehr arm ]”, in need of a better income. The appointment did improve his financial prospects because Westhausen was one of the several parishes assigned to the University of Wittenberg so that the professors would have steady income from them. But, as both the pastor and a resident, Mörlin still had to deliver his parish’s annual fees to the University. He himself was not able to obtain his own exemption until 1528. So his financial problems continued, forcing his sons to learn their trades. Joachim was apprenticed as a potter, and Maximilian, as a tailor. Nevertheless, their father proved to be popular as a preacher. Residents came from all over the Heldburger Land to Westhausen to hear his sermons for years before they even got their own Lutheran pastors. This was precisely what the Elector and the Duke wanted, to limit the Catholic influence of the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg over the Heldburger Land.

In 1528, the Electorate of Saxony had its first Visitation of the East Country [ Ostland ] of Franconia. When the Visitors came to Westhausen, the parishioners told them that “he was doing all the hard work in the preaching of the Divine Word, and they had no lack of it, but they complained that he would be overcome with drink and pick fights [ er In predigung gotlichs worts allen vleis thue und hetten an Ime kein Mangel, allein wes er sich den trunk überwindten und betryegen Iyeß ]”. Mörlin, threatened with dismissal, promised to improve. In the following Visitations, he kept his word, and he was allowed to keep his offices. But he still had to keep a chaplain and pay him an annual salary of 40 guilders.

After the Reformation
Mörlin died in Westhausen on 15 September 1550 after 29 years as the town’s pastor.

Family
Jodocus was married twice. His first wife was Margarete, the daughter of the administrator of the Elector of Saxony’s vineyards, and she died in either 1514 or 1515. Mörlin then married Anna Hausknecht, perhaps a native of Wittenberg, in 1515 and they had 12 children, including two of their eight sons, Joachim and Maximilian.

References
1)The surname was also spelled in German before and during the Reformation as Morle, Mohr, Mörtle, Mörlein and Morlin. They all mean the same thing in German, “Little Moor”, in honor of St Maurice the Moor. The coat-of-arms of Joachim Mörlin shows a Moor’s head.
2) Although he was with the Reformation from the beginning, Mörlin was not the first Reformer to have come out of Feldkirch. When he came to Wittenberg in 1510, there was already a group of Feldkirchers studying and teaching there. They were led by Bartholomäus Bernhardi ( 1487 - 1551 ). He had made the trip to Wittenberg in 1504 with fellow Feldkirchers, Johannes Dölsch and Christoph Metzler, the future Bishop of Constance. Their biographies can be read online at “Feldkircher Reformatoren [ Feldkirch Reformers ]” in Vorarlberg Reader.
3) Gruner, “Meine Mörlin-Vorfahren.
4) Krauß, “Die Mörlin”, page 158.
5) See Günther Drosdowski, Duden Lexikon der Vornamen [ Duden Dictionary of Forenames ] ( Mannheim, Vienna and Zürich : Dudenverlag, 1974 ), page 123, for more details. The Saint had been venerated in Germany since the 19th Century. According to Duden Lexikon der Vornamen, his name is a Celtic word for “warrior”.
6) Clemen, “Briefe Mörlin”, pages 220 - 221.
7) “Feldkircher Reformatoren”
8) Fox, Drei Vorarlberger, pages 26 - 32.
9) Also known as Henningus of Havelberg, Father Gode, a native of Werben (Elbe) in the Electorate of Brandenburg, joined the University of Wittenberg in 1511 as a Professor of Law. He had been the Rector and a Professor at the University of Erfurt, from which he graduated in 1489 with a Doctorate in jurisprudence. See Richard Thiele, editor, Erphurdianus Antiquitatum Variloquus, Incerti Auctoris, [ Latin, Etymological Antiquities of Erfurt, Author Unknown ] ( Halle an der Saale, Saxony : Otto Hendel, 1906 ), page 149, footnote 5 for more details.
10) In early 1521, Luther wrote three letters, all in Latin, to Georg Spalatin in an attempt to improve Mörlin’s career and financial prospects. They were dated 29 January, 17 February and 19 March. See Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette, Dr. Martin Luthers Briefe, Sendschreiben und Bedenken, Erster Theil [ Letters of Luther, First Part ] ) ( Berlin : Georg Reimer, 1825 ), pages 553, 559, 574 ff.; Ernst Ludwig Enders, Dr. Martin Luthers Briefwechsel, Band 3 : Briefe vim Dezember 1520 bis August 1522 [ Dr. Martin Luther’s Handwritten Letters, Volume 3 : From December 1520 to August 1522 ] ( Leipzig : Heinsius, 1889 ), pages 78 and 81; Karl Eduard Förstemann, editor,Neues Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte der evangelischen Kirchen-Reformation [ New Book of Documents of the History of the Evangelical Reformation of the Church ] ( Hamburg : Friedrich Andreas Perthes, 1842 ), page 12, Item 20.
11) Albert, “Magister Mörlin”, pages 68 - 70.
12) Georg Berbig, “Die erste kursächsische Visitation im Osterland - Franken [ The First Visitation of the Electoral Saxony in the East Country of Franconia ]”, Archiv für Reformation-Geschlichte [ Archives of the History of the Reformation ], Vol. III, pages 377 ff.

External Links
1) (German) Ancestry and family of Jodocus Mörlin at Andreas Gruner’s online essay, “Meine Mörlin-Vorfahren [My Mörlin Ancestors]”
2) (German) Biography of Jodocus Mörlin in “Feldkircher Reformatoren [Feldkirch Reformers]” at the Vorarlberg Reader website.

The Letters of Jodocus Mörlin as Transcribed by Wilbur Hanson Kalb.
These letters were published by Dr. Walter Heins.

All the letters are done except for one little word, “bülhin”. This little pesky word doesn’t seem to exist today, not even in the dialect of Saxony, and I don’t know the dialect of Voralberg. It’s not even in the online dictionary of Middle High German. As far as I have been able to decipher, it’s supposed to mean, basically, “big and strong as an oak” or, in other words, “heartiness”. Otherwise, it’s done. I could have done that section leading to the letters but you probably would say, “To hell with that! I wanna see the letters!!!” So here they are, with the footnotes at the bottom and a little correction to the first letter’s last sentence. Your friend, Herr Reuther, is right. Jodocus’s personality as well as the family tensions really do come through his letters. I had fun with the translation; it didn’t even feel like work. No wonder you are so excited about those letters! I had a late start this morning but I finished much sooner than I’d thought. I just hope that Jodocus didn’t embarrass his children when they were teenagers . . . “Mother was fine; she didn’t cry. Father did all the crying . . . ”

1. Undated ( to Wittenberg )

The address : "where the most esteemed Master of hol. Theology . . . ”, and the remark, which Joachim had added underneath to prove “to my Doctorate”, places this letter in 1540. On 18 September this year Joachim Mörlin was a Doctor of Theology in Wittenberg.

Grace and Peace of the Christ! Dear Son! I would have written to you more, but as things stand now, I cannot write to you more than I could to send with this messenger, Joh. Schlesinger, the 10 Gulden to satisfy your earnest request for now. Your thesis 1) is worth more than 10 Hungarian florins to me. May The Almighty support your beginning! O my Joachim, my son Joachim, how much I would be with you! The messenger will show you my heart. Farewell! I can not and will not you write more now. Your brother 2) has put himself in trouble, but to which you seem to be quite indifferent.

2. 19 June 1543 ( to Arnstadt )

Grace and Peace of Christ our Savior, I wish you and all of yours, Doctor and my dear son! First of all I will not deny to you that I have been twice to Schalkau ; the first time, when your brother received the parish, and now for the second time, when he moved there with his whole family. May the Almighty GOD bless his beginning! But how do you like this fact, let me know by letter, my Doctor! For out of your Brother's words, I realized that you're not quite agreeable with it. But this is certainly true that, when the parish gained your brother as its pastor, I was so pleased that I was moved to flow with steams of tears. How did the plague happened to us, I will tell you, when I am come to you. I want Brother-in-law Wolfgang as a companion. But by foot I can not come, a horse I do not have, and with business it is not possible. As for your sister Katherine, know that, on Wednesday after midnight, in the same hour as your Anna, my dear granddaughter, had in the night before, that is, on Tuesday ( as your letter reports ), fell asleep in the Christ in the presence of us parents and the family. How I felt there, you can imagine yourself. That distinguished aristocrat Nicholas von Heßberg has proven to be very impressed with your benevolence, as he has expressed personally to me. How is your mother doing, you’ll hear from our Wolfgang. May the Almighty GOD bring her 3 ) and her two daughters-in-law or better daughters in grace a safe delivery for His praise and for the propagation of Christianity and of the family of the, blissfully and gently resting in the Christ, Hugo Mörlin! "I think that the Mörlin clan will not wither away. It would be too damaged, because ( Thank God forever ) they [ are ] too healthy." 4 ) Farewell! Greetings to you and all of your Mother, Sisters and the whole family . . .

3. 24 January 1546 ( To Göttingen )

Grace and Peace of the Christ, whose blessing be with your new mother, my dear daughter, and with the grandson and the whole family, my best son and Reverend Doctor! The paper of Dr. Luther, which I have forwarded in accordance with the Brother regarding the Doctorate 5 ), may do him good. He will do so on the advice of the others, who are smarter than I am. In the past year, he has had to depend upon mine, his father’s, advice, [ and ] celebrated his wedding for the second time 6 ), but, from from the letters you had sent to him, I have seen that I had advised him badly. I hoped that your Reverence had graced the wedding with your presence. But, deceived in my hope, I myself thought that, if you had been invited to the wedding of a relative, you would have willingly gathered yourself a single piece of gold and endowed it on the bride and groom, like your Brother, yet you still preferred to wait for a whole year. What is this meanness, not to say this greed, in you, My Lord? On the top of that, it has made me a little upset that your Brother had to pay the messenger. Such unseemly behavior does not become a Doctor of Theology and even less for such a wonderful Bishop, who knows exactly how the chosen Armor of St. Paul makes a Bishop. 7 ) This admonishment, my son, take it as fatherly and friendly [ advice ]! With us, everything is healthy, but everything is also quite expensive. With strong and good wine, the LORD has blessed me. Mother, Brother and Sisters are well, thank GOD. The Mother gave birth on 13 July to a son, who is named after my dear late father Hugo. It is in the childbed the wife of Maximilian has had a daughter Apollonia. So our family increased to the Glory of the Almighty GOD. As for me, it is just bad. Because since Easter I have been in bed three times and in such a way that everyone said unanimously that I was out of it, and was sure in several places [ = times ] that I was already dead. May the Almighty GOD bless me with His Father’s favor and calls me, if it seems good to Him, from this evil world with a good and happy “little hour” [ Stündlein = death ]. What you write about the Duchess 8 ), I do not like. I fear that she limps with her son 9 ) with both legs. 10 ) She wants to serve the Christ and Belial. 11 ) They say, they are weighted with the Gospel, but they resent the Brunswicker oppression and imprisonment. 12 )

If I were like you, I would give them passages from the Gospel to keep in mind - Matthew 10, Verse 37 : “Whosoever loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me”. Likewise, Matthew 16, Verse 24 ; Mark 8, Verse 34 ; Luke 14, Verse 26, etc. You may handle them as you wish, as it befits a true Servant of the Word! As for the partridges, I have nothing at hand. I have been to the [ partridge ] house in this year only five times.

On 26 January, your Mother and I were invited by your Brother, but, because of the flooding, we could not go to the first church service of his wife in Coburg. There are greetings in my and your Mother’s name to all of you, your wife, children, Wolfgang and the whole family, especially the Administrator Simon, “with my bülhin”.

4. 13 July 1546 ( to Göttingen )

Grace and Peace from GOD the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ to you and yours, my dear son and Doctor! There is nothing more than what I would rather have, that you would be provided by us with a superintendent or any other position worthy of you, especially since I see that you are reluctant to tarry among the Saxons, perhaps because of the coarseness of the food and the greed of the people. Oh, how I wish that you still had that position in Arnstadt! 13 ) The whole city, indeed the whole area, is waiting for you with such longing! But enough of it! As for my situation, so everything is in order, except that I am very often plagued by [ a kidney ] stone. And that we are floating in the greatest dangers because of the chaos of war in your and other nations. May the Almighty GOD turn them to good and destroy with His powerful arm all enemies of the Gospel! That this may be done, let us pray steadfastly through our unremitting and pious prayers! As for my position, as you were told by our dear brother-in-law Wolfgang, GOD will lead you back to health. So farewell, my son, and keep me fondly as your Father in the flesh, as you tend! Greetings to you and all of yours, Mother, Brother and Sisters . . .

5. 3 July 1548 ( to Göttingen )

. . . I have received your letter in which you comfort me, your father, s you can, as would a pious son with his father. For you know my innate timidity, so I need your much needed consolation from you and your brother. The Almighty GOD will send me, you and the brother, as well as all ministers of the Word His Holy Spirit, this true Comforter, Who consoles us in this very dangerous time, and shows us His Grace, so that we may prove to remain steadfast in the Confession of his Word. Because there is nothing in the whole world, that would be exposed to greater and heavier dangers than the pulpit of the preacher and the ministry of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as I see from your letter : May the LORD be with you as He had been with the divine Peter and Paul, as He was in the Acts of the Apostles! Know also, my son, that the LORD has blessed me with His abundant blessings on June 1 with a son . . .

6. 18. March 1549 ( to Göttingen )

, , , I have received from you two letters, in which you wish to report at first, that the delivery of your wife has gone bad. How much that has pained me, I can not express to you by mail. I fear that those dangerous times have caused the event. But again, I am comforted by Luther’s and Bugenhagen's writings on the 29th Psalm about unbaptized children. How it has pleased the LORD, whose will shall be done and has been done. Know also that I have endured great pain for the whole Advent season, because of the [ kidney ] stone and other diseases. I have taken only a little bit of food to me the potion gets me. I see furthermore, my son, that you are very worried about your father . . . Because you want to know what secret I hold, if I want to stand firm in the pure and fair teaching of the Gospel. 14 ) I, although a very timid and pusillanimous man, have decided and asked with other ministers of the Word of the Superintendent, who replied that I would not fall off the pure and true doctrine of the Gospel . . . You pray for me, your aged father who is now in his 60th year, to the LORD that He would send me His Holy Spirit, which will make bold and brave to withstand all dangers for the sake of the Gospel. I can not and do not know no more to write. Because I do not read "because the Teutonic kathenfftlin". . . 15 )

7. 1 October 1549 ( to Göttingen )

. . . There is nothing I wanted more now than I ever have to have you with us . . . I was recently in Coburg with Maximilian, who treated me most honorably and had invited several highly respected men to honor me, and most magnificently and brilliantly hosted them. From what I hear from Master Simon and others, I believe that you will not remain long in Göttingen. 16 ) The LORD do it with you, as it will be good and healthy for you and yours and the Church of Christ. The LORD is the Earth and its bounty. 17 ) If they persecute you in this city, flee to another! 18 ) Show yourself only as a brave soldier of Christ! . . . I am no longer on the side of Wittenberg. It seems to me that they are flattering the Emperor, especially Bugenhagen. But you stand firm in the faith, be manly and be strong in the LORD! 19 ) How do I feel, as you would say, “my buolhin”. . .

Remarks :
1) Probably Disputatio ad dictum Luc. XIX : Vade, vende, relique omnia! Wittenbergae 1540 [ Latin, “Discussion of the Theme of Luke 19 : Go Thy Way, Sell, Leave the Rest! Wittenberg, 1540” ] ( Altpreußische Monatsschrift [ Old Prussian Monthly ], Vol. 44, p. 297).
2) Maximilian.
3) According to Letter No. 3, Jodocus Mörlin, who was in his 60th year in 1549 according to Letter No. 6, had a son born on 13 July 1545 and, according to Letter No. 5 another son born on 1 June 1548. He had 12 sons altogether. Except for Joachim und Maximilian who were born in Wittenberg, we know of only the one born in Westhausen, Stephan, who was Deacon from 1554 to 1561 in Coburg, then Pastor in Hildburghausen and died on 10 June 1604, and of a Georg, who was a schoolmaster in Westhausen in 1582.
4) These two sentences [ are ] also in German.
5) Maximilian Mörlin was the Doctor of Theology in Wittenberg on 15 March 1545.
6) That is not true. Realencyklopädie, Vol. 13, p. 249, states that Maximilian’s first wife was a Wittenberger, who bore him two daughters and twelve sons, and, at the beginning of 1531, he was, as a 65-year-old widower, “was married for the second time to a good peasant”. The Wittenberger probably was already the second wife.
7) I Timothy 3:3 : “Not stingy”.
8) Elisabeth von Braunschweig-Lüneburg [ 2nd wife of Eric I, the Elder, the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneberg and Prince of Calenberg-Göttingen ]
9) Eric the Younger [ Eric II, the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneberg and Prince of Calenberg and, since 1495, Göttingen. Unlike his mother and first wife, Eric did not stay loyal to the Lutheran Church. ]
10) See I Kings 18:21.
11) See II Corinthians 6:15.
12) Henry the Younger, the [ last Catholic ] Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, in an attempt to recapture his country in the autumn of 1545, was captured by the Landgrave Philip [ “the Magnanimous” ] of Hesse [ one of the leaders of the Reformation ].
13) The Count of Schwarzenburg [ Gunter XL “the Rich” or “With the Fat Mouth” ] deposed Joachim Mörlin as the Superintendent of Arnstadt on Martini [ St Martin’s Day, 11 November ] 1543 but he was still allowed to preach and officiate until Easter 1544.
14) Joachim Mörlin seems to have added to his father that, as he himself did, he had to protest the Interim and also to condemn every flexibility in the Mitteldingen [ “neutrality” ] ( in rebus adiaphoris [ Latin, “in the matters of indifference” ] ). Jodocus gets him to understand that he had no desire to interfere in the theological disputes and ecclesiastical politics.
15) Probably = Catonian, see Endres, Luthers Briefwechsel [ Luther’s Correspondence ] pages 15, 317, 154, Footnote No. 14 on p. 318 says : “from Cato, Disticha Catonis [ Latin, “Distichs of Cato” ], or from Catena [ not a real author, just a pen name to cover all the nameless commentators ], Bibelauslegungen [ Interpretations of the Bible ] (?)“. The latter appears to be more correct.
16) In December 1549 Duke Eric ordered the Council of Göttingen to expel Joachim Mörlin. On 18 January 1550 he was released and had to get out of the city. ( Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für niedersächsische Kirchengeschichte [ Journal of the Society of the Church History of Lower Saxony ], pages 34, 35, 37 ff ).
17) Psalms 24:1.
18) Matthew 18:23.
19) I Corinthians 16:13.

Jodocus married Mörlin, Margarethe. Margarethe was born in UNKNOWN in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Austria; died in 1515 in Wittenberg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Jodokus was first married to Margareta. She died between 1514 and 1515. She was a daughter of the manager of royal Friedrich vineyards.

Notes:

Born 1446 in Feldkirch, Voralberg, Austria and died in 1518. Hugo is mentioned in he 1479 writings in the Turmknopf of the church of St Nikolaus in Feldkirch, Voralberg, Austria. Herr von Feldkirch "bey Alga in Schwaben, aus dem uralten Geschlecht derer Mörlinen von Adlichen Eltern beyder Linien gezeuget".
Married around 1475/90 to Lucia Ellenbog. Lucia was born around 1459 and died on 15 Jul 1513 in Feldkirch.

Miscellaneous: Jodocus Morlin and seine Nachkommen (Karina Kulbach-Fricke), Birth place and year.

Hugo married Ebenko, Lucia between 1475 and 1490 in Feldkirch, Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Austria. Lucia was born in 1459 in Feldkirch, Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Austria; died on 15 Jul 1513 in Feldkirch, Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Austria. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: L21D-GDB

Notes:

Born 1446 in Feldkirch, Voralberg, Austria and died in 1518. Hugo is mentioned in he 1479 writings in the Turmknopf of the church of St Nikolaus in Feldkirch, Voralberg, Austria. Herr von Feldkirch "bey Alga in Schwaben, aus dem uralten Geschlecht derer Mörlinen von Adlichen Eltern beyder Linien gezeuget".
Married around 1475/90 to Lucia Ellenbog. Lucia was born around 1459 and died on 15 Jul 1513 in Feldkirch.

Notes:

Born 1402 in Feldkirch and died in Feldkirch, Voralberg, Austria

Miscellaneous: Jodocus Morlin and seine Nachkommen (Karina Kulbach-Fricke), Birth place and year.