An Exposition of the Last Psalme — Reading Companion

Exegetical Method and Sources

Boys's approach is thoroughly scholastic: he opens by reducing all Psalms to 'two words, a Halleluiah, and Hosanna' and then treats Psalm 150 as the 'conclusion of the whole booke.' He cites Musculus, Lyra, Jerome, Augustine, Prosper, Chrysostom, Basil, and Euthymius, among others, often through the intermediary of Musculus. For the phrase 'in his holinesse,' he records three interpretive traditions: 'in his Saints,' 'in his sanctitie,' and 'in his sanctuarie.' This layered citation shows Boys working within a received exegetical tradition rather than offering novel readings. The sermon's structure—epitome followed by anatomy—mirrors contemporary homiletic manuals.

Providential History as Evidence

Boys illustrates God's 'noble acts' with biblical examples (the Red Sea crossing, hailstones at Beth-horon, Joshua's long day, the Assyrian slaughter) and then applies the pattern to England. He enumerates Elizabeth I's preservation under Mary, her accession, her 44-year reign, the defeat of the Northern Rebellion, the exposure of Campion's and Parry's treasons, and victories over Spain. The climax is the Gunpowder Plot, called 'most noblie noble.' Boys's rhetoric escalates through repetition of 'a noble act' and culminates in a sustained panegyric to Elizabeth as 'a Prince of Peace.' The sermon thus functions as a political homily, aligning biblical typology with Stuart providentialism.

Rhetorical Texture and Audience

The sermon's style is dense with Latin marginalia, scriptural cross-references, and patristic authorities, yet it also employs direct address ('beloued') and vivid narrative. Boys contrasts 'wildy Winchester and bloodie Bonner' with the meekness of James I, and he reports that Philip II 'spared her life ... not out of any pietie or pittie, but onely out of policie.' The Gunpowder Plot is described as 'intended mercilesse and matchlesse Massacre both in fact and fiction.' Such phrasing suggests a preacher attuned to the dramatic potential of his subject, weaving together learned citation and popular anti-Catholic sentiment for a Paul's Cross audience.

Readers should note that the surviving text is a printed sermon, not a transcript of the spoken delivery; the marginal apparatus and expanded quotations likely reflect later revision for publication. Boys's explicit aim—to defend holy days—is embedded within the exegesis rather than argued separately. The sermon rewards attention to how biblical commentary and national history are fused, and how the preacher negotiates between scholarly citation and public exhortation.

There are days when the loudest praise feels like something we must earn, and then there is John Boys, reminding us that even the last psalm is a kind of settled, thankful breath. His careful list of mercies, so earnest in 1613, makes me think of quieter consolations—the steady, unforced wisdom of those who learned to endure. That same patient temper seems to live in The mutual influence of Christianity and the Stoic school — A Closer Reading, where old virtues meet an older hope, and I find myself grateful for both.