The Wiley, Switzer, Tawzer Religious Beliefs

Above is a card stating the tenants of Brethren beliefs that belonged to John Will Switzer.

The Dunkard Church

(Tunkers, Taufers, Swiss Baptists, German Baptists Brethren, Church of the Brethren)

The print of a copper engraving by Jan Luyken(1649-1712) appears above. This and103 other sketches by Luyken appeared in Martyr's Mirror, a book of anabaptist martyrs. This sketch is a scene depicting Dirck Willems as he turns around to save his pursuer's life. He was then captured, imprisoned, and burned at the stake outside Asperen in AD 1669

The Anabaptists in Switzerland

 The Anabaptist movement began before the Protestant Reformation, but is generally dated as beginning in 1525 in Zurich, Switzerland. These people felt that the Reformation had not gone far enough, and defied Zwingli's state church in Zurich. They were rebaptized as adults (this is sometimes called Believers Baptism). By this act they violated civil law as well as the law of the reformed Church. Many were martyred, including an ancestor of mine named Hans Landis who was beheaded. Many were executed by drowning, some by burning at the stake, and some by more humane methods such as beheading. Many of these executions (more than 2000) are documented in a book called the Martyr's Mirror written by Thieleman J. van Braght in 1660.

The Anabaptists in Switzerland called themselves the Swiss Brethren and later migrated into the Alsace, and the Palatinate in Germany and eventually on to Holland. We have to understand that Switzerland and Germany were divided into Cantons and Principalities. As a result of the Thirty Years War, the decision was made to let the Prince of each state determine the religion of that state. They were all either Catholic, Lutheran, or Reformed. All in that state had to follow the religion of the Prince. Many states did not tolerate the Anabaptists at all, whereas some were reasonably tolerant of them. Many found refuge for a time in the Palatinate in Germany. When things got too tough there, they escaped to Holland and eventually in the early 18th century to America. They first arrivedat Germantown in Philadelphia and many moved on to areas west of Philadelphia, in particular a large number of our ancestors settled permanently in Adams, York, Cumberland and Lancaster Counties.

There was a splinter group who tried to set up a Theocracy in Muenster. This failed and after a long siege by the Protestant Prince, the leaders were tortured and killed and their bodies were hung on the steeple of the church in cages. These cages are still hanging there.

During the latter part of the 17th century and the early part of the 18th century, there arose a movement in Germany called Radical Pietism. They dabbled in Mysticism and more Spiritualistic practices than the Reformed or even the Mennonites. A small group of these people led by Alexander Mack formed a church in Schwarzenau, Germany in 1708. They baptized each other in the Eder River. It was never revealed who baptized Alexander Mack. There were nine men and women who formed that first group. They later became known as the Deutch Taufer or German Baptists and later the German Baptist Brethren. In the early part of this century, they became known as the Church of the Brethren.

The Brethren came to America in the early part of the 18th century. During the 19th century, they migrated South to Virginia and the Carolinas where many of them became involved with Universalism. They also moved West and now live in most of the 50 states. They number about 120,000 in this country with many more in Nigeria, which was their main mission field for many years.

The Brethren are one of the 3 Historic Peace Churches along with the Quakers and the Mennonites that hold Pacifism to be one of their main tenets.