The Palace of Justice Opened: A Parliamentary Thanksgiving Sermon for Victory in the Civil War (1646)

TORSHELL, Samuel. The palace of justice opened and set to veiw [sic]: in a sermon at Margarets Westminster before the honorable House of Commons assembled in Parliament, upon the 12th of May, 1646. Being the day of their solemn thanksgiving, for regaining and taking in the severall garisons, of the city of Exeter. Barnstable. Michaels Mount in Cornwall Ruthen Castle. Ilford-Combe. Aberystwyth in Wales. Dunster Castle. Titbury Castle. Woodstock Mannor. Castle of Bridgnorth. Banbury Castle. Newarke. By Sam. Torshel.   London: printed by T[homas]. R[atcliffe]. and E[dward]. M[ottershed]. for John Bellamy at the three golden Lions in Cornhill, 1646

1st Edition. Quarto. [viii], 23, [1] pp., recent quarter cloth over marbled boards, gilt title to spine. Title printed within double-line border, woodcut head-pieces and decorated initials. Moderate browning to text, faint dampstaining to some leaves, interior otherwise clean. Torshell in early hand to front endleaf ownership inscription of the author’s copy? This the sole edition. The text of a sermon delivered before the opening of Parliament offering thanksgiving for a series of recent victories against Charles I in the 5th year of the Civil War.

Torshell (1604-1650) started his career as a preacher in London, and by 1632, he became the rector of Bunbury in Cheshire, appointed by the Haberdashers’; Company. Over time, his Puritan inclinations deepened, and he became critical of episcopacy, influenced by the arguments presented by Mr. White in Parliament. In 164344, Torshell was entrusted with the tutorship of the two youngest children of Charles I, under the custody of Algernon Percy, the tenth Earl of Northumberland. Later, he served as a preacher at Cripplegate, London, and passed away on March 22, 164950. Among his notable works are “The Three Questions of Free Justification, Christian Liberty, the Use of the Law”; “The Saints Humiliation”; “A Helpe to Christian Fellowship”; “The Hypocrite discovered and cured”; “The Womans Glorie”; and “The Palace of Justice opened and set to View”; Additionally, he collaborated on a commentary on the prophecy of Malachi with Richard Stock.