Annet

(Peter). One of the most forcible writers among the English Deists, b. at Liverpool in 1693. He was at one time a schoolmaster and invented a system of shorthand. Priest ley learnt it at school and corresponded with Annet. In 1739 he published a pamphlet on Freethinking the Great Duty of Religion , by P. A., minister of religion. This was followed by the Conception of Jesus as the Foundation of the Christian Religion , in which he boldly attacks the doctrine of the Incarnation as “a legend of the Romanists,” and The Resurrection of Jesus Considered (1744) in answer to Bishop Sherlock’s Trial of the Witne es . This controversy was continued in The Resurrection Reconsidered and The Resurrection Defenders Stript of all Defence . In An Examination of the History and Character of St. Paul he attacks the sincerity of the apostle to the Gentiles and even questions the authenticity of his epistles. In Supernaturals Examined (1747) he argues that all miracles are incredible. In 1761 he i ued nine numbers of the Free Inquirer , in which he attacked the authenticity and credibility of the Pent a teuch. For this he was brought before the King’s Bench and sentenced to suffer one month’s imprisonment in New gate, to stand twice in the pillory, once at Charing Cro and once at the Exchange, with a label “For Blasphemy,” then to have a year’s hard labor in Bridewell and to find sureties for good behavior during the rest of his life. It is related that a woman seeing Annet in the pillory said, “Gracious! pilloried for blasphemy. Why, don’t we blaspheme every day!” After his release Annet set up a school at Lambeth. Being asked his views on a future life he replied by this apologue: “One of my friends in Italy, seeing the sign of an inn, asked if that was the Angel.” “No,” was the reply, “do you not see it is the sign of a dragon.” “Ah,” said my friend, “as I have never seen either angel or dragon, how can I tell whether it is one or the other?” Died 18 Jan. 1769. The History of the Man after God’s Own Heart (1761) ascribed to Annet, was more probably written by Archibald Campbell. The View of the Life of King David (1765) by W. Skilton, Horologist, is also falsely attributed to Annet.