John Trapp on Job 8:14

Verſe 14. Whoſe hope (or whoſe folly, that is, whoſe fooliſh hope) ſhall be cut off] The Latine tranſlation hath it, his folly ſhall not pleaſe him, ſc. when once he ſeeth by the diſappointment of his high hopes, what a fools paradiſe he had wrought himſelf into, what pains he hath taken to go to hell, his hope ſhall be cut off: and that is the greateſt cut in the world.Hypocritis nihil ſtupidius. This, Bildad telleth the hypocrite twice over: becauſe he will hardly be drawn to believe it. But that he telleth Job ſo, as if he were this hopeleſſe hypocrite, he is quite beſide the cuſhion, as we ſay.

And whoſe truſt ſhall be a spiders web] Wherein there is much artifice, but no ſtrength. Truſt is ſomewhat more then hope: it is a bearing a mans ſelf bold upon aſſurance that all ſhall be well: ſuch was that of Babylon in their proviſion, laid in to [illegible: 1 letter]old out a ſiege of 20 years laſting. ſuch alſo is that of myſtical Babylon, who ſaith, I ſhall ſee no ſorrow,Iſa. 59.5. Rev. 18.6. But this truſt never triumpheth. It is (by a ſecond) compariſon) here fitly ſet forth by a spiders web, Heb. a ſpiders houſe; ſo called becauſe therein the ſpider lodgeth her ſelf, as if ſafe, and out of harms way, which is nothing ſo. A Reverend man cleareth the compariſon thus; Firſt, the ſpiders web is made out of her own bowels, (her motto was mihi ſolidebe[illegible: 1 letter] ) ſo is the hypocrites hope meerly from his own brain and imagination. Secondly, though this web be curiouſly framed, yet it only catcheth flies: ſo do hypocrites look after ceremonies, and not ſubſtance. Thirdly, the ſpider is full of poyſon, and remaineth in a duſty naſty hole, though ſhe work never ſo curiouſly: ſo doth the hypocrite abide in his unregeneracy &c. Fourthly, ſhe gets to the top of the window, as high as ſhe can: and then when ſhe falls, ſhe falls to the bottom, for nothing ſtayes her: ſo here. Fifthly, when the beſome comes, ſhe and her web are ſwept away, and ſhe is trodden under foot: ſo are all preſumptuous hypocrites. Beckets friends adviſed him (for his ſecurity) to have a Maſſe in honour of Saint Steven, to keep him from the hands of his enemies: he did ſo, but it ſaved him not. Contrarily, a poor perſecuted Hugonot in the Maſſacre at Paris had crept into a hole, a ſpider comes and weaves a cobweb over it. The murtherers therefore preſumed him not there; and ſo he was preſerved. What cannot the Lord do by the weakeſt means that may be?